Halo: Elite Force
by Ben Griggs
Summary: Essentially a rewrite of my other story. I plan to add more detail, character development along with minor plot changes.
1. Hitchhiker

Halo: Elite Force Chapter 1

7 of 9 was standing watch in Astrometrics when the sensors began beeping at her. She brought it up on the display and watched as a ship...or rather half-a-ship drifted through. She analyzed the blue ripples. They were similar to a transwarp conduit but they appeared to operate on different principles. She tapped her combadge. "7 of 9 to Bridge. Captain Janeway will you come to the Astrometrics lab. I believe I've found something."

On the Bridge Janeway got up and headed for the turbolift. "I'm on my way 7. You have the bridge Commander."

A moment later she walked into Astrometrics and found 7 of 9 perform several different types of scans on a...derelict ship. "What is that?" she asked

"I believe it is a vessel Captain or at least it was. It came through a portal of some-kind similar to a transwarp conduit. But this may peak your interest more." said 7.

She tapped some controls and a portion of the hull magnified. On it was a small collection of numbers and letter Janeway recognized as English. "FFG-201? Forward unto Dawn? What's that mean?"

"I do not know Captain, but I am reading one lifesign aboard, possibly human."

"I'd say probably human judging by the script. All right we'll take a look. Janeway to bridge, Mr. Paris set a course for the coordinates 7 is transmitting to you and engage at maximum warp."

"Aye sir...ETA now three hours." replied Paris

Three hours later Voyager arrived at the derelict. "Harry, what can you tell us?"

"The hull is composed of a titanium alloy. I'm detecting several pods that could be missile or torpedo launchers. They don't appear to use any energy weapons at all. I am detecting a faint plasma weapon signature but the computer doesn't recognize it."

"Lifesigns?"

"One human and at least a dozen others of an unknown type. Most of the ship is exposed to space. Judging by the readings I'd say the human is in some sort of stasis."

"What about the others?"

"I can't make heads or tails of those readings. All I can tell you is that there is something biological over there besides the human. I recommend caution."

"Tuvok, take a security team and see what's over there."

Cortana was awakened by what was left of the Dawn's external sensors. It took a few minutes for her to become fully awake. But once she saw the vessel floating nearby and its human-style script she woke the Chief. The cryo chamber opened and a large man in a green armored suit floated out. He grabbed the weapon nearby and turned to Cortana. "How long?" he asked

Her hologram appeared on a pedestal nearby and she looked surprised. "Not long actually. A few hours. I thought we'd be here for awhile longer the chances of someone actually finding us are astronomical."

"What woke you up?"

"The Dawn's external sensors recorded this ship floating nearby. It hasn't hailed us or launched any craft. In fact- hold on. There is a strange energy signature appearing on the ship. It's similar to the Halo's transportation grid. Let me check internal sensors...This is interesting. Someone has found us but I don't think they're UNSC or Insurrectionist or Covenant for that matter. I can tell you that three of the four beings on board are human. But I can't say what the fourth is...Uh Chief this is not good. It appears we have some stowaways."

She showed him the image of the flood in one of the cargo bays. Then a schematic of the ship that showed a route to the nearest armory, the human/alien lifesigns and the Flood. "I'll remain in the system to monitor the Flood and the aliens."

Silently the Chief floated down a hall to the nearest armory. Which was conveniently located down the hall from the cryo-chamber. He restocked his assault rifle and slapped a fresh clip into it. He also grabbed a pair of pistols, submachine guns and a shotgun. Along with a bandolier of grenades and shotgun shells. He then headed for the Flood. "Chief the aliens are headed toward the Flood."

"I'd better get there first."

A few minutes later he heard a roar as the Flood attacked. Then he heard a new sound. Like an energy weapon but different from the Covenant. He moved quicker and came around a corner to see four people in space suits with strange looking rifles firing at Flood combat forms. The rifles spat out beams of energy at the Flood forms slicing them in half. Without hesitation the Chief jumped into the fray throwing a fragmentation grenade at the Flood. He watched the grenade take down two forms then mowed two more forms down with his assault rifle. A small clutch of infection forms jumped at the aliens in the space suits but the Chief was faster. In the blink of an eye he drew his pistol and fired. The round punctured the weak infection form and it popped. Two more minutes of intense fire and the Flood was gone. After one final check, the Chief lowered his weapon and turned to the four aliens. One of them stepped forward. "I'm Lieutenant Tuvok of the Federation starship Voyager."

"Master Chief SPARTAN John-117 United Nations Space Command. But you may call me John."

"John...who are you? Where do you come from?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"We come from the planet Earth." said one of the humans

"So... the Covenant didn't destroy Earth?"

"Who or what is the Covenant?" asked Tuvok

"A collection of alien species bent on exterminating mankind."

"I know of no such collection. Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets. A

collection of species who have banded together for mutual trade and protection."

"What about the UN? The colonies?"

"Earth has several thriving colonies but the United Nations ceased to exists over three hundred years ago."

The Chief was shocked. The UNSC gone? "What year is it?"

"2376."

"Impossible. The year should be 2553!"

Lt. Tuvok took out a tricorder and scanned the Chief. "I believe I have an explanation. Come with us to our ship and we will explain."

The Chief hesitated then nodded. "Very well. Let me grab something first. Cortana I think you should introduce yourself."

Cortana appeared on a nearby pedestal in holographic form. "Greetings I am Cortana. An artificial intelligence. Third generation Smart AI." She turned to the Chief "I'm packing right now...I'm ready...yank me."

The Chief pulled her chip out of the pedestal and inserted it into his helmet. A cold mercury feeling filled his head once again. Cortana was a familiar presence by now. She'd been with him since just before the battle for Reach. The UNSC's last major military installation before the Covenant got to Earth.

The four strangers straightened. "Tuvok to Voyager, five to beam up."

"_Acknowledged...uh Tuvok I can't get a lock on your friend, some kind of shielding."_

"It's ok, we'll take our Pelican. There's still one in the docking bay right Cortana?"

"Affirmative."

"Very well. Tuvok to Voyager, there is some sort of shuttle still docked here we will use it to return to Voyager."

"_Understood we'll prepare the shuttle bay."_

The five men made their way through what was left of the ship. On the way Cortana gave Tuvok a brief rundown of what happened to the Chief. From the Human-Covenant War all the way through the events of Halo, Earth, Delta Halo and finally the Ark. Finally they made it to the docking bay. It was a mess but the Pelican was intact. The Chief inserted Cortana into the system and she began the power-up sequence. "Chief, there's a problem, the docking clamps won't release us. They've been fused." said Cortana

"I believe we can be of some assistance. Ensign?" said Tuvok

One of the other security officers nodded and floated outside. He set his phaser to a cutting beam then sliced off the docking clamps. The Pelican hung there as he crawled back inside and Cortana dropped the ship and powered the engines and set a course for Voyager. "Cortana what is this vessel used for?" asked Tuvok

"This is a DH-177 Pelican dropship. It is the UNSC's premier dropship and inter-ship shuttle. Fast, maneuverable, some variants are even armed as gunships." she said as a technical schematics appeared on a display. "But they are vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire so the UNSC invested the time and money into developing another way to deploy troops. The Single Occupant Atmospheric Entry Vehicle or HEV. A ship can deploy these from low orbit, getting troops down to the planet faster than dropships. While computer-controlled artillery will get some of them, each destroyed pod will result in a single casualty instead of a dozen. The troops we use for those are called Orbital Drop Shock Troops or ODST, they prefer the name Helljumper. Their motto is 'feet first into hell'."

"Fascinating."

"We're on final approach to Voyager. It's a beautiful ship."

"It's the latest Federation design. But we will exchange more information once we're aboard."

Cortana took the dropship and flew it through the shuttle-bay forcefield. She was fascinated by their technology. She landed the dropship expertly and shut everything down. Then the Chief took her chip and put it back into his armor and walked down the ramp. Captain Janeway stepped forward. "Greetings Master Chief, I'm Captain Janeway. Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Voyager."

Before she could blink, the chief had snapped to attention and snapped a salute. She hesitated then returned the salute. They still taught saluting at the academy but it wasn't normal protocol.

"Thank you Captain. I am Master Chief SPARTAN John-117. My companion is Cortana a military artificial intelligence."

"Please follow me to Astrometrics. I believe we can answer some of your questions." she said. Then she turned and led the Chief and the security team out into a hallway and to a turbolift. They all couldn't fit so Tuvok dismissed the security team with the Chief's promise that he won't harm anyone. The turbolift groaned as it tried to lift the Chief's weight in addition to a human and vulcan but it got them to the right deck.

"I understand you're some kind of special operations soldier." she said as they exited the turbolift and headed toward Astrometrics. Several starfleet crewmen stared at the Chief but he was used to it. He got the same reactions from UNSC Marines and Sailors.

"With respect ma'am I'm not at liberty to say. My specific origins are classified. I can tell you I'm with the Office of Naval Intelligence. I can also confirm that I'm special forces. Beyond that you don't have the clearance."

"I understand." She lead him to Astrometrics and he had to duck to enter the room. "Seven of Nine this is Master Chief SPARTAN John-117. But you can call him John."

Seven nodded to him in greeting he nodded back. "I believe I know what has happened. Your ship passed through not only a portal through space but thought time and reality as well. I detected curious quantum-temporal anomalies when your ship appeared. You're not only from another time but another reality as well. Unfortunately, there is no way to send you back."

"Captain, I would like to examine those sensor logs." said Cortana.

"You want to interface with our computer?" Janeway asked

"I don't need to completely interface with it just let it transmit the logs to me."

The Captain nodded to Seven. A few minutes passed as Cortana analyzed the sensor logs. She checked it once, then twice, then a hundred times more. There was no doubt. There were stuck here. "Chief...they're right."


	2. Settling In

A/N: This is a short chapter but I wanted the story to move along. I'm having the crew pick up the Chief a little while before the game takes place so I can establish his presence aboard the ship and Cortana's interfacing with the computer.

Halo: Elite Force Chapter 2

Settling In

_ Captain's Log supplemental: After four days the Chief and Cortana are settling in nicely. We've assigned him quarters and managed to replicate a UNSC duty uniform for him so he can get out of that armor...and have something else to wear. His injuries were quite severe. It's a miracle the man was standing let alone fighting. The Doctor found something interesting in his blood work. Evidence of genetic engineering. I plan to talk with him later about that. In the meantime we've begun a salvage operation of the Forward Unto Dawn. We've emptied out the armories there and have stored the UNSC weapons in armories across the ship. Over the next few weeks with the Chief's guidance, my security staff will be trained in the use of these weapons and will be given additional martial arts training using a Holo-program Cortana put together, everyone else will train with the pistols we found. I prefer a good old-fashioned phaser rifle but after seeing a demonstration of the firepower of just one of their assault rifles I'd even take them against the Borg. They might prove to be a useful weapon. One the Borg can't really adapt to. One thing's for sure, the next group of aliens that try to board Voyager are gonna get a nasty surprise. B'Elanna's engineers are absolutely drooling over the slipspace engines and MJOLNIR armor. Seven of Nine believes we can make a slipspace jump and go the distance of a day at maximum warp in a twelve hour slip-space jump. It would certainly cut a good chunk off our journey. We've been told the MJOLNIR armor is...incompatible with anyone but an augmented individual. The Chief and Cortana have taken upon themselves to design similar armor suitable for the average crewmen. I've also agreed to allow Cortana minimal access to the computer. Only enough that she can work on herself. She told me she has a lot of data to get out of her and told me Smart AIs only live seven years. B'Elanna and Harry are working on a way to extend her lifespan but no luck so far. Cortana has already given herself the task of developing better defenses for Voyager. Cortana told me about the standard weapons used by the UNSC navy. She believe the Archer missile design can be adapted to house photonic or quantum warheads. Not a bad idea, the casings and guidance systems could be replicated and we can use antimatter and matter from the warp core. She believe she can double even triple computer response time by fully interfacing with it. I don't doubt her, however I am wary about allowing an unknown AI interface with the ship but from what she told me shipboard AIs can do everything from pilot a ship, control weapons even perform maintenance diagnostics, B'Elanna and her engineering crew might end up out of a job. I'm interested in the point defense idea she has. It'd be nice to stop a torpedo or even a pulse weapon before it even reaches the ship. The Chief is deep into his studies of history and protocol. He still wants to salute every officer he passes but he's getting used to the new protocols. I can understand it though, that's basically how he lived for the past twenty-five to thirty years. Knowing Starfleet is in the middle of its own war makes me hope it won't last nearly as long. I've thought about offering him a commission in Starfleet. I know the combat training we go through will be like a morning exercise to him but he'll have to work on the diplomacy, engineering and science areas. I do know he's a compulsive exerciser, he'll run the length and breadth of the ship ten times a day before even beginning his morning studies. He's using the holodeck for combat training as well. I've included these events in my standard transmissions to Starfleet Command. I think they'll be eager to speak to someone with more combat experience than the Admiralty combined. _


	3. Tsunkatse

I thought this would be a good introductory episode for the Chief. Tsunkatse, the Delta Quadrant version of UFC...which the Chief dominates...new chapter coming soon! I promise! Read and review please

Tsunkatse

_Captain's Log Stardate 53443.5: Voyager is in orbit of a planet called Norcadia prime. Their government has graciously offered shore leave to my crew and I've agreed. Tuvok and Seven have requested to go on an away mission to explore a micro-nebula. Surprisingly, the Chief asked to accompany them, said it was part of the scientific portion of his studies. In our last contact with Starfleet a week ago, Cortana and the Chief gave Command several tips and suggestions inspired by tactics and technology used by the UNSC during their war with the Covenant. Starfleet was wary about the 'mass-missile-fire' tactic and the suggestion to use photon or quantum warheads but they said they would look into it. They also accepted his application to Starfleet Academy. Seeing as how he's some 40,000 light-years from his classes, I've decided to lend a hand. The Chief's nearly eidetic memory allows him to pass nearly every test in every class he's taken so far. As I suspected he breezed through the tactical/combat portions of the curriculum and easily learned space tactics. I expect him to graduate by the next time we communicate with Starfleet. I am taking the Delta Flyer and Cortana to the Pendari system for a expo on Artificial Intelligence. Cortana hopes to find some way of extending her lifespan._

The Chief, Seven of Nine and Tuvok boarded a shuttle and headed for the nebula. The journey had been long with minimal conversation. Then the sensors pinged a contact.

"Tuvok, I've got an unknown vessel approaching on an intercept course." said the Chief

"Seven, try to hail them." said Tuvok

"No response." she replied

The lights dimmed and the Chief could hear the power draining from the shuttle. "They've directed a dampening field toward us. We're losing power."

The wine and glow of a transporter distracted the Chief from his console. He immediately scanned the device with a tricorder. "It's an explosive."

"I'll attempt to disarm it." said Tuvok. He crouched next to the device and began to scan it again then it exploded.

Some time later the Chief could hear someone calling...his name. "John...John can you hear me?"

"Cortana?"

"No, it is Seven of Nine."

"What happened?"

"I do not know. We appear to be prisoners."

Before she could continue a Norcadian walked into the bunk room that reminded the Chief of the dorms he grew up in during his training as a Spartan. The alien approached and scanned him and Seven. "Oh...Borg-enhanced physiology. We've never had a drone compete before. That will bring us lots of ratings." he said about Seven. Then he turned to the Chief. "Genetic enhancements. Nearly unbreakable bones. You'll do very very well."

"Where is Tuvok?"

"Tuvok? Ah your companion. In our medical bay recovering."

"We wish to see him. NOW." said Seven forcefully

"Very well. Guards?" turning back and smiling "Nothing concerns me more than the happiness of my fighters."

"Yes...Penk's generosity is...legendary..." said a fighter behind him which the Chief identified as a Hirogen.

Two guards brought Tuvok in and laid him on a bed. "He needs medical attention." said the Chief

"Will you fight?" he asked

Quick as lightning the Chief disarmed the two guards and shoved Penk against a pillar. Seven and another fighter grabbed the weapons. "You WILL arrange for medical care or I swear I will rip this ship apart with my bare hands and don't think I can't. Tell me Penk, are your fighters all volunteers or kidnapping victims?"

"Some are some aren't." said Penk

"How many people have you kidnapped? Is that where your revenue comes from? Watching kidnapped people fight to the death?" asked Seven

Penk was silent. The Chief tightened his grip on Penk's neck.

"Chief. No...don't." said...Lt Cmdr. Tuvok.

"Why? He kidnaps people and then forces them to fight for the entertainment of others."

"Because it is an order. Stand down. I have no doubt you could 'rip the ship apart' but that would do me nor the other fighters no good, it may get some killed. Voyager will come for us once they see you or Seven fighting."

"Or if they see you fighting each other." squeaked Penk.

"Don't even think about it. We're not going to fight each other." said the Chief

"Very...well. I'll arrange for medical care." Penk choked out.

The Chief released his grip on Penk and nodded to Seven and the other fighter and they released their weapons back to the guards. "You will release those fighters whom you've kidnapped. If you don't, I WILL rip the ship apart."

"After you fight in a blue match."

"Fine...what's a blue match anyway."

"A non-lethal bout." said the Hirogen

"And I assume a red match is what? to the death?"

"Yes."

The Chief looked at Seven, then Tuvok. "Fine I'll fight."

"I'll put you up against the Pendari. He should provide enough of a...challenge."

Several hours later...

The Pendari champion entered an arena filled with people cheering. He was tall, muscular, heavy. He looked around, then raised one eyebrow. The crowd cheered even louder. Among the crowd were Commander Chakotay, Ensign Kim and Neelix. Then the door opened again. The Chief stepped out into the arena. There was cheering. He ignored it and focused on his opponent. They circled the ring. The Chief felt oddly comfortable here it brought back memories of sparring with his fellow Spartans. But it also brought back other memories. Three ODSTs had attacked him shortly after his augmentation. On the orders of a Sergeant fought and killed them in a boxing ring.

The Pendari eyed him. Then spoke. "You look big and tall. A worthy opponent."

The Chief was silent. The Pendari was almost as tall as an Elite and the Chief suspected he was nearly as muscular.

In the stands Chakotay and the other tried to call out to the Chief. But he couldn't hear them. "Chakotay to Voyager."

"_Calling to give me a blow by blow description of the match?"_ asked B'Elanna

"The Chief is in the pit, beam him out of there."

B'Elanna move quickly to the transporter system. "I can't get a lock. There's no-one there but you Kim and Neelix. All I'm getting are photonic signatures."

"Holograms?" asked Kim.

The bell rang.

And twenty seconds later the fight was over. The Pendari was on the ground, groaning. "A good match." said the Chief

"Impossible! Nobody can move that fast!" said Penk.

In the stands Chakotay called for beam-out.

Neelix met with Norcadian officials to discuss the matter, it didn't go well according to Neelix. In the astrometrics lab they find out the fights are being transmitted from a ship across the sector. Scans of the ship reveal it to be heavily armed and armored. "It's way out of our weight class." said B'Elanna

"The bigger they are Lt."

"Sir?"

"Plot a course and engage. I'll contact the Captain."

Two days later...

Voyager approached the transmission ship. "Red alert. Shields up. Hail the vessel."

"What can we do for you?" asked Penk

"You're holding three of our people hostage. We want them back."

"You'll have to be more specific..."

"Seven of Nine, the Chief and Lt Cmdr Tuvok."

"Ah, the drone, her genetically enhanced friend and their friend...I'm afraid they're unavailable."

"Give them back to us...NOW."

The Chief was back in the arena this time fighting multiple opponents...and beating them all in less than a minute. He looked up at Penk. "Is that all you've got?"

Penk stared. He'd never seen such a skilled fighter before. Then he opened the door and the last opponent stepped out...

On the Delta flyer, the Captain consulted with Cortana.

"I think I can get into their system but we have to get very close." she said

"Don't worry about that I can get you close enough, you get in there and lower its shields so we can beam our people out. While you're at it I want you to transmit, Penk's logs to the Norcadian authorities. If anyone else has been kidnapped by this guy I want them returned to their people as well."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

Voyager approached Penk's ship on an attack vector and began firing. Phasers and torpedoes fired but Penk's shields held. Then he returned fire, Voyager's shields began to drop quickly. Just as Voyager's shields were getting critical. The Delta flyer arrived and began targeting the communications arrays, disrupting the Tsunkatse matches that were being transmitted across the sector. The Delta flyer got close enough to punch through the shields and Cortana transmitted herself into Penk's ship's system. She immediately shut down the comm array along with weapons and shields. She then inspected his logs and put together a list of those people who were forced into fighting. Then left a virus behind to disable his ship until authorities could arrive. She moved back into the flyer's systems and piloted the shuttle into Voyager's shuttle bay.

The Chief stared at his opponent. Then breathed a sigh of relief at the tingling sensation he's used to by now. That of a transporter beam. The Chief and his opponent rematerialized on the pad.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight seven."

"As am I. Even with my Borg physiology I don't think I would have been much of a challenge."

"We should report to sickbay." said Seven

Norcadian authorities arrived and confiscated Penk's ship, released anyone who was kidnapped and forced to fight and put Penk in jail. Tsunkatse matches continued but they were heavily regulated by the government to prevent anyone else from taking innocent people and forcing them to fight. At the end of their shore leave, Voyager's crew beamed back up to the ship and it jumped to warp on a course for the Alpha quadrant.

The Doctor healed Tuvok's injuries and looked over the Chief and Seven who were both healthy.


	4. Firefight

A/N: There will be a few more chapters before we get into the plot. Enjoy!

Chapter 4 Firefight

The Chief was sitting in on the daily briefing for the senior staff. Cortana was there in holographic form via holo-terminals installed throughout the ship. These terminals were a similar design to those used on UNSC warships allowing Cortana to appear in different sections without the need for larger holo-emitters.

They were discussing matters of security when the Chief spoke up. "Captain, based on ship's logs and the combat records of the ship, I recommend a specialized team be assembled to handle particularly dangerous situations. This team would consist of the best security officers aboard. They would be considered 'Special Operations'. In the UNSC normal military personnel are well suited to standard military engagements. But some situations call for less force than would normally be applied."

"A Commando Squad?" asked Janeway

"Exactly. Think of it like this, normal ship's security is the phaser rifle of the military. But Commandos and similar units are like weapons that require finesse, like a Bat'leth, or knife."

"I must agree with the Chief's assessments, we do not have many crewmen assigned to ship's security. Therefore any casualties we take will severely hamper our military capabilities. A Commando Squad would help reduce casualties because of special training and equipment which increase survivability for the team." said Tuvok

The Captain thought about it for a moment. "We've lost too many crew members already...if there is a way we can reduce casualties during an attack we must make the best of it. Chief, Tuvok, you have my authorization to assemble and train two squads of commandos. I expect a team roster by the end of the week. Now B'Elanna you were talking about the slipspace drive?"

"Yes Captain. With Cortana's help we can enter slipspace via the deflector dish, we've sent a few probes through and they've traveled quite a distance in just a few seconds. According to Cortana, UNSC slipspace drives are much slower than Covenant ships because of the distance between the slipspace portal and the hull. Their engines use brute force to rip a hole in subspace. Our deflector can accomplish the same task but with much much more accuracy than UNSC ships or even Covenant ships."

"Captain the Slipspace technology is essentially a basic form of quantum slipstream drive, only much slower. However with current technology it is possible to enhance the slipstream drive into something usable. As with our previous experiments with quantum slipstream technology, Voyager cannot remain in the slipstream indefinitely, we must drop out at regular intervals to reduce hull stress and to take navigational readings." Said Seven of Nine

"With your permission Captain, I can send additional slipspace probes to chart a series of slipspace jumps."

"Permission granted. If that's all the morning briefing is concluded."

Tuvok and the Chief went down deck four where they are working on converting a section of that deck into a 'Hazard Team Operations area'. Plans are to have a locker room, briefing room, holodeck and armory along with a lounge and team quarters all on the same deck for quicker response and readiness. They met in the briefing room with the ship's security compliment. Tuvok made a presentation about a hand-picked Commando team. "Trials for the team will begin tomorrow, I suggest any of you that have holodeck time to use it wisely."

Alexander Munro walked out with Telsia Murphy, a long-time friend and comrade.

"Are you going to try out for the team?"

"Definitely. Any chance I get for extra training and the chance to be on a Commando squad no less. Starfleet Commandos are some of the best troops in the Alpha Quadrant."

"I have some holodeck time in an hour if you want meet me at holodeck 2. We'll run some simulations together."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

An hour later they were in the holodeck fighting off Hirogen troops on a simulated Voyager. When the simulation ended Munro suggested something else.

"The Chief told me about a program he put together, he called it 'firefight'. The basic premise is to hold off waves of progressively harder enemies."

"Sounds like fun. I'm in."

Munro smiled "Computer, activate tactical training program 'firefight'."

"Specify difficulty." the computer replied

He looked at Murphy, "Let's start on normal and go from there." she said

"Computer, normal difficulty."

"Specify location."

"Location? what locations are available?" he asked

"There are twenty-four location parameters. Ranging from Alpha Quadrant enemies to Delta Quadrant enemies. There are also three locations for Covenant enemies."

"List Delta Quadrant locations."

"Voyager Cargo Bay, Voyager hallway, Borg Cube, Hirogen ship, Malon freighter, planetary locations: courtyard, beach head, office building-"

"Courtyard."

"Program complete, holodeck will reset with new program in five seconds."

The holodeck shut down and then restarted and the two tactical officers found themselves on a beach. Suddenly their comm clicked on. "This is Voyager, you have Kazon assault shuttles inbound. Transporters are not functioning. You have to hold them off until we can get to you. There are supplies nearby help yourselves."

"Understood Kazon."

Then the computer came over "Wave 1 starts in three, two one."

As soon as the computer finished two Kazon assault shuttles broke through the clouds. They hovered over the courtyard and Kazon began to repel down via ropes. Telsia looked around and spotted four Type 2 phaser pistols nearby. "Over here!" she yelled.

Telsia ran towards the pistols and threw two to Munro then duel-wielded two of the pistols herself. The two officers put out a surprising amount of firepower. Enemy after enemy went down. Until the computer announced "There are five enemies left."

Telsia spotted a photon grenade crate nearby and tossed one. It exploded and took out three Kazon. The computer made another announcement. "There are two enemies left."

In a last ditch effort to take the beach the Kazon charged...and were summarily shot at the same time. The computer made another announcement. "Wave one complete. Wave two starting in ten seconds, new weapon available. Type 3 phaser rifle."

The sound of a transporter caught Munro's attention and he spotted a supply pad. He and Telsia sprinted over and grabbed the rifle and additional grenades. Three alarms sounded and this time four Hirogen shuttles hovered over the courtyard a dozen Hunters repelled down from each. Telsia took careful aim with her rifle and fired at a hovering shuttle. A phaser rifle, even on its highest setting won't do much more than score the hull. But she aimed at the underslung disruptor cannons and destroyed them.

"Nice shot! Now take out the bigger ones on the ground, I'll handle everyone else." yelled Munro

She nodded and as the shuttles flew away, targeted the larger Hirogens with quick precision high-powered phaser blasts. Munro had his weapon on a medium setting which was less powerful but let him fire more shots. He aimed quickly and precisely putting down three Hirogen in five seconds. He tossed three photon grenades into clusters of Hirogen taking out the majority of their opposition. Another sixty-seconds was spent clearing the area, then an additional two minutes spent dealing with an Alpha wearing extremely strong armor. "Wave complete, new wave in ten seconds, new weapons available."

On the supply pad appeared more weapons including a mounted phaser turret. The two officers went through five more rounds before they were 'killed' by a strafing Hirogen shuttle.

"That was actually kind of fun..." said Telsia

"I enjoyed it too. The Chief said he was working on different tactical scenarios to help train the team. I wonder what else he's got going." replied Munro

"Beats me but I'm spent, I'm still off duty, I'm gonna go back to my quarters and get some rest. I suggest you do the same, we have a big day tomorrow." said Telsia

The two officer went their separate ways. The next day would ineed bring hard trials...


	5. Graduation

A/N: This is a long chapter and a prelude to the main plot. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 5

Graduation

After two weeks of almost continuous training the Commando squads were commissioned and officially named the Hazard team. Telsia and Alex both made Alpha squad which was the primary squad. Rick Beissman was their heavy weapons specialist with Chell as their technician. Ensign Munro was nominally in command of the squad, but the Chief would command both squads as platoon leader. They trained hard for dozens of different scenarios. They endured dozens of holodeck battles with not only holographic characters but each other in scenarios called 'slayer' as well as normal security forces. Using normal security in certain scenarios had a bonus effect of extra training for ship's security. They also played numerous objective games like king of the hill and capture the flag. For their graduation mission they had a choice of missions made up by the Chief and Tuvok. There were some missions dealing with the Covenant while others dealt with Alpha and Delta Quadrant species. For his graduation mission Alexander Munro choose a mission dealing with the Covenant. A mission that the Chief had done himself. Boarding the Truth and Reconciliation to rescue Captain Jacob Keys. For his mission however it would use Starfleet weapons and he would be rescuing Captain Janeway.

He stood outside the holodeck, the Chief was there along with Tuvok and the others. The Chief looked at Munro. "Are you ready?" he asked

"Yes sir." Munro answered quickly

"One final bit of advice, be prepared for anything. My instructors often had some surprises in the training missions I did."

"Understood sir."

"Very well. Your mission is as follows. You will lead a force of Starfleet security personnel to rescue Captain Janeway from the Covenant. Your mission will begin when you enter the holodeck."

He nodded. The others in the team gave quick 'good lucks' and he went inside. Almost instantly he found himself in a shuttlecraft with a dozen other security members. "Ten seconds to dirt!" Paris called out.

The shuttle landed with barely a bump the hatch dropped and Munro was the first one out. "Go GO GO!" he yelled "Move it up! Starfleet isn't paying by the hour!" then Cortana came over the comm

"Stick to the higher ground to the right. You should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted." she said then to the other personnel "Ensign hold your position, we'll recon ahead."

The holographic ensign nodded to Munro and he moved up a short incline and hid himself behind some large rocks. He took out his tricorder and scanned ahead. It detected a pair of stationary plasma guns nicknamed 'shades' each had a Grunt gunner in it and about half-a-dozen troops in the area as well. Mostly Grunts but there were some Jackals and Elites. Munro unslung his phaser rifle and set it for long range level 2. Low power but fast recharge allowed him to take several shots per minute. He aimed at the first gunner and pulled the trigger. A bright beam of phased energy snatched the grunt out of the closest shade. He quickly aimed at the far gun and took the shot. With the guns down the other Starfleet personnel moved it. With Munro as sniper support they quickly took the area then more Covenant troops came around the corner. Munro reset his rifle for a higher setting and took a crimson-armored Elite in the chest. The beam ripped through its shields but didn't kill it, Munro fired again and sparks flew from the Elite's chest. The other Starfleeters were making quick work of the other grunts and jackals.

Munro jumped down and led the troops around the corner. Two jackals were quickly killed as well as a blue elite further up. Grunt ran away in terror but a crimson-armored elite came around the corner and swung at Munro with his weapon. Munro ducked, reversed his rifle and hit the elite with the butt of his rifle pushing it away. Now with more room, Munro quickly took aim again and shot the elite twice. He moved around a corner and cleared the area ahead. Then more enemy troops came down a pathway near the cliff. Munro tossed a photon grenade, it landed in the middle of their stretched formation and vaporized two jackals, three grunts and stripped the shields off a blue elite. Munro and the rest of his team moved up the path. Munro signaled them to stop.

There was a blue elite on lookout duty near a rock. Munro took him down with a single maximum power burst. Unfortunately it alerted the rest of the Covenant to the Starfleet presence. Munro took a captured plasma grenade and tossed it at a gun emplacement directly above them. It exploded rendering the weapon useless. Munro gave a series of short hand signals which directed the security team to move up on the left and flank the enemy while Munro went over a 'bridge' of sorts. He took down two jackals at the far end, then ducked behind a small boulder to avoid a firing shade emplacement. The shade managed to pin him down so that he couldn't get a shot off and the shade. But he had a clear view of the battle on the left. He took down a few more grunts and an elite before calling in a shuttle to evac the wounded and deal with the shade. The shuttles phaser completely vaporized the shade. A covenant dropship appeared and drove the shuttle off forcing the ground troops to fire on the dropship and take it down themselves. Almost two dozen phaser rifles on maximum burned through the dropship's armor and killed some of troops in the forward compartment. Another shot must have ruptured a control line, plasma burst from the rear and the dropship spun away over the cliff.

"Let's move it." Munro said and the team moved through a very narrow canyon and was soon in the same area as the gravity lift. The Starfleet troops made surprisingly quick work of the surrounding area before Covenant troops began dropping from the ship above. Munro tossed a photon grenade each time and each time it wiped out the majority of the enemy security team. Then two hunters came down the lift and began firing immediately. Two crewmen were vaporized instantly before the others could return fire. The hunters raised their arm-mounted shields which could withstand the odd phaser or plasma shot but not twelve at the same time. Phased energy punched holes in their shields then penetrated the armor and vaporized several of the smaller worms inside. The two hunters fell with a groan. With the area secure Munro contacted Voyager. "Munro to Voyager, we've reached the gravity lift and are ready for reinforcements."

"_Acknowledged."_

A moment later three type 2 shuttles landed near the gravity lift. The ramps dropped and more starfleet personnel came out. Lt Cmdr. Tuvok led the now much larger force onto the gravity lift. The purple beam began lifting the security force up into the ship.

*Outside Holodeck 2

"He's doing well." stated the Chief

"Agreed. Very well." said Tuvok

*Holodeck 2

The team was inside the gravity lift chamber, one of the security men had his tricorder out. "Sir, I've got human lifesigns. But no Covenant lifesigns."

"That's odd. If there's no Covenant here. Think maybe nobody's home?" suggested another.

"Unlikely, there were Covenant security teams dropping from the lift before we got aboard." said Munro

The holographic Tuvok nodded in agreement. "We should proceed with caution. Spread out."

Before the team could move a door opened. Then another and another. Covenant troops flooded the gravity lift control room and the Starfleet officers returned fire. The security officer who had suggested there was no Covenant got a look from his comrade. "No Covenant? You HAD to open your mouth!"

The Starfleet team fought hard when suddenly the fighting stopped. "What happened?" asked an officer.

"I don't know. Hold position." said Munro

He went behind some containers and found a Covenant active camouflage device. Essentially a personal cloak. He activated it and disappeared from eyesight. He moved through a door smacked a grunt with the butt of his rifle, snuck up behind a blue elite, then took a right and meleed more troops before the device weared off and he entered a storage bay with two levels. The Covenant took notice of him and opened fire. He took care of the ones closest to him then took down as many as he could from above. He looked down trying to judge the distance and quickly pulled his head back before a plasma bolt raced up to the ceiling. _Too far, I'll break my legs._ He spotted a door on his level and moved through it. Carefully, methodically he moved down a series of hallways until he found himself on the lower level of the storage bay he was in earlier. The holographic Tuvok came over the comm. "Ensign there should be a control panel on the other side of this door."

"Acknowledged." he replied.

Munro started towards the panel when Covenant security teams began pouring into the bay. He sprinted under fire and palmed the door control panel. The rest of the Starfleet team moved into the bay quickly and efficiently disposing of the Covenant troops. Moments later the area was secure. The team moved through more hallways into a larger hanger with three levels. There they met more Covenant troops. Plasma fire crisscrossed phaser beams across the bay. "Tuvok! We have to keep moving." yelled Munro as he shot another elite and a grunt. "Agreed," then in a louder voice "All teams move to the far side of the hanger! Cortana I suggest you work on getting the doors open."

"Hurry Cortana, we can't hold them off all day." said an officer while he aimed and took down a jackal.

"_Working on it. _she said, then Munro could hear her grumble about cracking a modulated encryption code.

Munro tracked and killed several Covenant troops before they stopped. Even the ones firing from above fell back. "Team get ready I think they may have hunters." His prediction came true as a pair of hunters came through the doors to the left. The team spread out as to avoid mass casualties. But still took hits. Even the holographic Tuvok was hit, his arm boiled off. While the hunters were distracted, Munro snuck around behind them and shot each of them in the back then knelt beside Tuvok. "Voyager, Tuvok is hit beam him out."

_"Acknowledged."_

Tuvok disappeared in a shimmer of blue.

As he was beamed out, Cortana got the door open. Munro waved the team forward. The entire team moved up to the next level and encountered more Covenant. Grunts and jackals were speared by phaser beams, some of which ignited the methane the grunts use to breath. The effect of which was similar to an incendiary grenade. The team made it the third level and Munro tossed a photon grenade into a small hallway to the right just before a door closed. He heard grunts yelling just before they were vaporized. On the other side of the hanger they found the door leading further inside. They eventually wound up at the bridge. Munro got close enough and the door opened with a whisper. He saw a Gold-armored Elite and recognized its rank as Ship/Field/Fleetmaster, the Covenant names for Captain, General and Admiral. He set his rifle for high-power, then aimed as the gold elite paced the upper deck. Munro controlled his breathing and fired between breaths. The high-powered shot of phased energy shorted out the shields of the elite but didn't kill it. Munro fired again but the elite ducked and rolled. The other bridge crew came alive and the whole area was awash in plasma fire. Five grunts were put down in seconds along with a pair of jackals and two blue elites while Munro concentrated on the gold, which when it had recovered from the first shot charged Munro with a plasma sword. Munro fired again.

The Elite ducked to the right, then was close enough to swing. Munro ducked and rolled away. He looked the Elite square in the eye and switched his rifle for a Klingon Bat'leth. He activated a button on the sword and it began to hum at a different frequency than the sword. The Elite nodded in understanding. Munro took up a modified warrior's stance, blades up, thumbs opposed in the grips. They both hesitated... then the elite lunged.

*Outside Holodeck 2

"What's he doing? A plasma sword will cut right through that Bat'leth!" asked the Chief

*Holodeck 2

Munro caught the plasma blade on his bat'leth and held it there. The Elite was surprised to say the least. He fully expected his plasma sword to cut straight through the metal sword.

*Outside Holodeck 2

Tuvok stared. "Fascinating, he attached a magnetic field generator to the bat'leth. The magnetic field of his weapon deflected the plasma sword which also has a magnetic field generator."

"Now that's impressive..." said the Chief

*Holodeck 2

Ensign Munro and the gold-armored moved through an intricate series of moves and countermoves. Until Munro's sword came up and hit the elite in the head dazing it. Munro straight kicked it away from him and a holographic security officer put it down for good with a well-timed phaser rifle shot. Munro switched back to the rifle. "Hold this position, I'll scout ahead for the Captain."

They nodded and took up defensive positions. Munro moved ahead, mowed down a trio of grunts and bounced a photon grenade around a corner. The small antimatter device vaporized two jackals and three grunts. It also left another pair of jackals further back blinded by the explosion, which Munro quickly put down. He turned left then right, taking another pair of jackals and grunts ahead. He moved down a series of hallways, then with the area clear, crouched and pulled out his tricorder and scanned for the Captain. He found her in a holding area not far from his position. He retrieved his rifle and moved towards the Captain. He took down a pair of jackals patrolling a long corridor. He came up to an entryway and scanned the room beyond. There were several grunts, two camouflaged elites and another golden elite in the room.

Munro took a deep breath then primed and through a pair of photon grenades, one to each side. They detonated at the same time vaporizing the majority of the grunts and shorting out the active camouflage of the two elites. But it also alerted them to his presence. He moved in quickly, taking down the remaining two grunts and the two elites. The golden elite tried to rush him but he backpedaled quickly and reset his rifle for maximum firepower. He took his shot hastily. The phased energy beam made the shields shimmer then flick out. He fired again and the shot punched through the elites heavy armor and killed it. The elite commander fell with a painful howl. He checked the room once more for enemies but found only allies. He hit a control panel and found Janeway, injured but otherwise alive. Also present was Commander Chakotay and Lt. B'Elanna. He scanned them all and treated their injuries as best he could then contacted Voyager. "Munro to Voyager, I have the Captain, Commander Chakotay and Lt. B'Elana four to beam up."

_"Acknowledged, standby..."_

The Captain, Chakotay and B'Elanna were beamed out, but Munro remained.

"Uh, Voyager, I did say four to beam out."

_"We know. There's some kind of interference. Try and get to the hanger, we have a shuttle on standby to pick you up. We'll keep trying to establish a lock."_

"What about the rest of the security team?" he asked

_"They are aboard._" replied Ensign Kim

"Acknowledged Munro out."

_Now, how do I get back to the hanger...of course, follow the bodies._ he thought to himself.

It only took him a few minutes to return to the bridge where he found another pair of camouflage elites. A Covenant security team rushed the bridge and Munro managed to fight them off but was wounded in the process. His armor protected him for the most part but wouldn't take many more hits. Before he started off toward the hangar again, the ship shuddered. Then an alert came over the comm. _"All hands, the Flood have boarded the ship I repeat the Flood have boarded-AHAHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRGGGGGGGH HHHHHHHHH!"_ came the elite voice translated via universal translator.

"Great...just great." he muttered to himself. "Surprises indeed." He quickly worked on his rifle, replacing the power pack and reseting the quick-set buttons. (Quick-set buttons were two buttons he could use to quickly switch out the setting of the rifle without having to reset it manually.) He set the buttons for medium power, which was sufficient for Flood and allowed a quick recharge time. The secondary button was set for wide beam-low setting. This setting was intended for swarms of Flood infection forms and would pop dozens upon dozens of them with each shot. He then modified the magnetic field generator for his bat'leth to provide him with a low-power shield. It wouldn't help much against plasma fire but it would prevent infection forms from getting at him from behind.

*Outside Holodeck 2

The Captain joined the Chief and Commander Tuvok. "Who's in there right now?" she asked

"Ensign Alexander Munro ma'am. He's doing quite well." replied the Chief

*Holodeck 2

Munro picked up his rifle and headed out. He checked every corner as he moved into a four-way. At first there was nothing...then a howl like nothing he's ever heard before reverberated through the ship. To his right a swarm of infection forms came at him. Then from his left a group of combat forms. Thinking quickly he tossed a grenade towards the combat forms and fired his wide beam setting at the infection forms which promptly popped by the dozen. The grenade went up taking half-a-dozen combat forms with it. With his right side secure for the moment, he turned left and fired three accurate shots down the hallway. Each shot killed a combat form via vaporizing the controlling infection form. Seeing more Flood forms coming from behind him he backed up in the direction of the hanger. He knew the corridor behind him was fairly long so he was able to concentrate his firepower in the hallway. He fired once, twice, then a wide-beam shot. When the Flood were far enough away he risked a glance behind him and saw he was getting close to a turn in the hall. He tossed his last photon grenade and it vaporized the front ranks of combat/carrier/infection forms. He turned to sprint to the hanger while tapping his combadge. "Voyager, I'm under heavy attack by the Flood I need immediate transport!"

"_Standby, Ensign...I'm sorry but there is still a lot of interference. We're working on it. In the meantime our shuttle is heading for the hanger bay."_

"Understood, Munro out."

He took off toward the hangar bay again firing his rifle behind him one handed. He ran passed the door to the hanger and it closed behind him. He aimed at the seam and held down the trigger, the rifle fired a sustained burst, sealing the door and preventing the Flood from entering the bay. He looked out into the bay and saw dozens of Covenant troops battling and equal number of various flood forms. He saw grunts and jackals fall under piles of infection forms, Elites fell to their own weapons wielded by the Flood, albeit unskilled. He held his position on the top floor, occasionally taking potshots at the Flood. Then the Delta Flyer moved into the hanger and swept it with a phaser beam. Flood and Covenant alike flash-vaporized in an instant. Munro saw Lt. Paris through the front window. _"Ensign, your ride is here."_

"Fantastic." muttered Munro as he boarded the shuttle. As he did so, the Flood burst through the door he had sealed, forcing him to fire again and again to keep them from getting aboard. "Paris! I'm aboard, GO!"

Without a word the Delta Flyer burst into full impulse and climbed hard for space. Munro was in the main compartment when the Covenant ship blew up. "That was close." he said.

"_Congratulations Ensign, you just graduated from Commando school."_...it was the Captain's voice.


	6. Delays

A/N: I know I haven't posted for this story in a while I've been caught up with A Time For Peace. I'm going to try and get back into this story.

Delays

Just hours after Munro had graduated from commando school along with his team. He had been discussing procedure with Cmdr. Tuvok in the turbolift when the ship was rocked by weapons fire. Tuvok rerouted the turbolift to the bridge and when the arrived Munro stepped out near Seven of Nine. "What happened?" he asked

"We responded to a distress call from a derelict vessel and it opened fire." she replied

The Captain turned around when she heard the turbolift open. "Tuvok, they don't respond to hails. Target their weapons systems and disable them." she commanded

"Firing phasers...direct hit...phaser had no effect." Tuvok reported

"Captain, aft shields down, rerouting power. Secondary EPS conduits on decks 8 and 9 are rupturing, we can't take much more of this." said Cortana from her holo-pedestal.

"Photon torpedoes, full spread." said Janeway

"Firing." said Cortana.

In a flash she locked onto the target and fired two torpedoes. The first torpedo dropped the shields of the vessel the second destroyed it. But before Cortana could change course a reddish-blue wave rippled out from the destroyed vessel. Voyager was caught in the wave and vanished...from normal space.

"Everyone alright?" asked Chakotay

"I am undamaged." replied Seven

"Where are we?" asked Janeway

"I can't get any reading on our position. I think we've been torn from normal space and pulled through some sort of rift." said Cortana

Harry Kim spoke up. "It's an Isodementional rift Captain. We're completely cut off from normal space."

"Status?" asked Janeway

"Sensors and most of Voyager's primary systems are offline. Until repairs are completed we can't go anywhere." said Tuvok

_Captain's Log Stardate 53854.7: Voyager was attacked by an unknown force and transported to some kind of starship graveyard, whereabouts unknown. The ship is heavily damaged, communication, propulsion and other systems are offline. Until repairs are done, we're utterly helpless, stranded._

"Cortana, get damage control going, find out what you can about the other ships and exactly where we are." said Janeway

Before Cortana could reply B'Elanna Torres came over the comm. _"Captain! There's a containment leak in engineering, if we don't get it sealed we're going to have a warp core breach._"

"I'm attempting to compensate...my connection to warp core controls has been severed it will have to be done in engineering itself." said Cortana

"Ensign Munro you're wearing armor, get down to engineering and help B'Elanna seal that leak." said Janeway

"Ensign, turbolift controls are malfunctioning, you'll have to use the manual interface." said Cortana

"Understood." replied Munro

He stepped into the turbolift and pressed the button for engineering. The turbolift groaned then resumed its normal speed, taking him deeper into Voyager. They suddenly stopped on deck 6. He stepped out and followed the corridor around various crewmen on damage control. As he came to a T-junction he saw a crewmen fall down the corridor after an explosion. The crewmen got up and began limping toward him. "The EPS conduits are gonna blow! Hit that panel and bring up a containment field." he said

Munro waited until the crewmen was passed the bulkhead and activated the containment field just as the conduit breached. "Thanks, where were you heading?" the crewmen asked.

"I need to take a turbolift to engineering." replied Munro

"Well the aft turbolifts were the only ones working on this deck but they're behind the containment field." said the crewmen as he tapped a nearby console. "The explosion must have shorted out this console. I think there's an override somewhere on this deck but I'm not sure where."

"Thanks anyway." replied Munro

Munro began down the corridor to the left. He tapped his combadge and contacted Cortana. "Munro to Cortana. I need an override on the containment field on deck 6." he said

"_Munro, my connections to several parts of the ship are offline, there is an override in the nearby jefferies tube."_ she replied

"Understood, Munro out."

He stepped into the jefferies tube and began crouch walking his way down the tube. About halfway down the ceiling collapsed in front of him, forcing him to turn around. When he came out of the tube he saw a turbolift door and been blown off its hinges. He looked inside the shaft and saw a ladder leading up to a maintenance hatch. He climbed the ladder and entered the hatch. He crouch walked down the jefferies tube to where the ceiling had caved in on the tube below. He carefully picked his way through debris and found the override. He hit the panel and climbed back out the tube into the corridor he had been in. He continued down that corridor until he found Chell and another crewmen making repairs on a power relay. "Sorry Munro, the data shunt has been severed here, everything down this way is shut off." said Chell

"Hey we're getting a power surge here." said the crewmen

"Munro quick! hit that panel and shut off this relay." said Chell

Munro did so and noticed the look of relief on the crewmen. "That was close."

"I need to get to engineering." said Munro

"There's a jefferies tube down this corridor, you can take it to deck 11." Chell replied

Munro nodded in thanks and headed down the corridor to the right. He found the jefferies tube next to a turbolift that was offline. He entered the tube and climbed down the ladder. He soon found himself on deck 11 in a cargo bay. As he entered the bay Cortana came over the comm. _"Ensign, I'm detecting large quantities of hazardous material in your vicinity."_

"I see it Cortana, looks like there was a spill." Munro replied

"_My controls aren't working, you'll have to drain the material manually."_ she said placing a NAV marker on his HUD...It was on the other side of the cargo bay. Munro sighed then carefully jumped down onto a container, then jumped to the ladder at the far side. He climbed and activated the containment system, which drained the material out of the cargo bay. Munro jumped down and out the cargo bay. Engineering was just around the corner and he picked up his paced.

As he rounded the corner he felt the ship vibrate and saw a crewmen run out of engineering. He jogged up to B'Elanna. She turned with an annoyed look on her face. "Munro what took you so long, we've got a warp core breach in progress you need to get in there and shut it down. There are two things you have to do so listen carefully. First, turn off the power relays on the main floor, then go to the upper level and decouple the dilithium matrix. You will need the access codes to shut down the power relays. They will be on your left as you enter engineering."

He nodded. "Understood Lieutenant." he replied

He tapped a button on his arm and a helmet sprang up from behind him and sealed his armored suit. The HUD light up with diagnostics which confirmed an airtight seal. He stepped into engineering and waited for the containment field to drop before heading directly to the access code station. Quickly noting to codes he went to the power relays and shut them down. Then made his way to the upper level. While he was on the ladder the computer sent out a warning. _Warp core breach in thirty seconds_ it said. Munro picked up his paced and ran to the dilithium matrix and decoupled it. The computer went off again. _Warp core offline. Core breach averted._

B'Elanna walked into engineering and looked up. "Good job Ensign. That was touch and go there for a little while."

"No problem Lieutenant." replied Munro

Munro walked out of engineering and was about to head to hazard operations to take his armor off but a warning from Cortana stopped him in his tracks. "_Intruder alert! All security and Hazard team personnel report to the loading dock._"

Munro immediately got into a nearby turbolift and activated it.


	7. Unwelcome Guests

A/N: As promised I've started getting back into writing this story. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Unwelcome Guests

The turbolift opened and he saw Ensign Chang with a phaser rifle. Chang tossed him a hand phaser and said "This way." Munro saw the Doctor treating some wounded crewmen when the Doctor noticed him. "If you need medical attention just come back here." he said Munro looked down the corridor and saw Telsia, the Chief and Lt. Foster. "Munro, over here." Foster called.

Munro moved to comply and saw a phaser rifle on the ground. Telsia and Foster both had hand phasers while the Chief carried an MA5C assault rifle in his hands and a shotgun on his back. "We're being invaded by some kind of pirates, they're taking our supplies we have to stop them. There are two of them behind a barricade in there. They're launching energy grenades, see if you can eliminate them. Ready?" he asked

They all nodded and the doors opened revealing a pitched fire fight between security and the pirates. The pirates appeared to be a collection of Alpha and Delta Quadrant species, Malon, Hirogen, Klingon and Human. Munro took cover behind a container with Telsia, she leaned out a fired a shot which killed a Klingon. Munro saw a Malon on a catwalk above the deck. From cover he was able to shoot the Malon causing him to fall. Munro turned his attention to the two Klingons launching grenades. He quickly spotted them and took out a photon grenade. He pressed the activation stud, counted to two, then let it roll under their barricade. The grenade vaporized the two Klingons and two more Klingons as they beamed in.

Munro signaled Telsia who moved up to another container and continued to fire. The Chief sprinted past them into the fight. He was killing them left and right until one pirate tried to shoot him in the back, only to find his shots deflected by shielding. The Hirogen had a look of shock on his face before the Chief turned, pulling out his shotgun with one hand and pulling the trigger while holding the trigger of the assault rifle down. Buckshot tore into the Hirogen's armor and killed him instantly, while the assault rifle rounds just kept the enemy's head's down. Munro and Telsia shot whoever they could as they beamed in. One Klingon beamed in right next to Munro. His commando training kicked in and he swung his rifle hard. The butt of the rifle connected with the Klingon's head and he collapsed. Soon afterwards, the cargo bay was secure. Then Lt Cmdr. Tuvok called on the comm. _"Lt. Foster, we're pinned down in cargo bay 1. We require assistance."_

The Chief nodded, "We'll handle it, Munro you're with me."

Munro got on a lift with the Chief. It groaned as it tried to lift the weight of MJOLNIR armor and an additional normal human body but made it to the upper level. The Chief crossed the catwalk as two more Klingons beamed into the cargo bay and were immediately shot multiple times. The Chief rounded a corner and opened a door leading to Cargo Bay One. They stopped near a lift overlooking the bay. Munro spotted a Klingon rushing the pinned security team in the corner. Using the rifle's secondary fire he vaporized the Klingon quickly. "Chief, your shotgun I need it." he said. The Chief surrendered the weapon and Munro jumped down to the deck. The Chief switched to his pistol, which had better stopping power than the rifle and could take down fully armored Klingons in a single shot. Munro went to a corner on the opposite side of the bay and crouched between two crates. Then Klingons started to beam in. Munro happened to be right behind them and took the majority of them out with buckshot to the back. The Chief shot the others as they beamed in closer to the pinner security team. Within minutes the cargo bay was secured. Tuvok tapped his combadge as the Chief and Munro joined him. "Tuvok to bridge, the intruders have been repelled."

"_Good work, it seems our situation is worse than we thought Tuvok. Report to the conference room. Chief you come too."_ replied Janeway

As Tuvok left he spoke with Munro. "Have the team report to Hazard operations. Conduct a debrief with them."

"Aye sir." Munro replied and broke away from the Chief and Tuvok.

Later on after the conference the Hazard Team met again in the briefing room. They stood at attention as Tuvok and the Chief entered. "Please be seated." Tuvok said

"I am sure many of you are curious as to our situation. Voyager has been transported to a region of space we are not familiar with. There appear to be several other ships here as well and we've detecting an energy dampening field in the surrounding area. Some of our repairs can't be completed because of this field. For the moment we are trapped and cannot escape."

"This sounds like the Tarkanus Gravity Well, 247 ships were lost there." Chell said

"Or the Bermuda Triangle...you know back on Earth." replied Munro

"Perhaps. Weapons and propulsion are offline but the Captain wishes to find out more about the surrounding area while we continue to repair the ship." said Tuvok

"So...what's the deal with our unwelcome guests?" Biessman asked.

"We do not have much information about them as of yet Mr. Biessman. They appear to be scavengers comprised of Klingons, Humans, Malon and Hirogen. Only short-range sensors are operational right now and we lost contact with their vessel since it departed. We have detected a derelict ship nearby, sensors indicate no life signs however we have detected an active power source. We are hoping the computer system is operational and we can retrieve information from it." said Tuvok

"No life signs? Like a ghost ship?" asked Chell

"Yea...BOO!" replied Biessman getting a grin after Chell jumped.

"We probably won't encounter ghosts but stay alert, you never know what you might be facing." said the Chief. "This is an information gathering mission. Encounter probability is minimal. We'll split up into two teams. Myself and Red Team will beam into control room A. Munro and Blue Team will transport to control room B. If you find yourselves in a combat situation however, the technician should be protected at all costs to ensure retrieval of the information. Questions?"

"Sounds like a cakewalk." said Biessman.

"See Quartermaster Oviedo in the armory. Gear up and report to the transporter room. Dismissed." said the Chief.

The Hazard team stood at attention then went to the equipment room and gathered their weapons. Most of them took phaser rifles and assault rifles, while some took a shotgun in lieu of phaser or assault rifles. They also loaded up on grenades. Then they all went to the transporter room and beamed out.


	8. First Mission

A/N: Another Chapter for Halo: Elite Force, I'm going to try and upload one chapter for this story for every chapter of A Time For Peace. BTW ATFP is almost finished. Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 8

Ensign Munro, Telsia and Chell beamed into their assigned control room. They were astonished at what they saw. The room they were in was large, predominantly blue, almost...alive. Munro's armor identified a health and ammo terminal along with three separate console like devices that almost 'grew' from the floor itself. There was large pillar in the middle of the room and on the other side were two doors...or what appeared to be doors anyway. Munro nodded to Chell. "Alright, let's if I can get these consoles working..." he said

Telsia looked around in wonder. "Look at this...I've never seen such a ship...almost like it's alive." she said

Chell moved to the center console and scanned it. "I think I found a data terminal. Just give me a minute to start the download." he said

"It's hot in here...humid." said Telsia, wiping sweat off her brow.

"I kinda like it." Chell replied

"You would, you're a Bolian." replied Telsia

Then the comm sounded. "_Red leader to Blue Leader._" it was the Chief

"Blue leader here." replied Munro

"_We've tapped into a data terminal here and started the download."_

"Chell found one here too, he's accessing it now."

Then an alarm went off. Munro heard Biessman cry 'Ambush' before the comm channel went down. The the same alarm sounded in their room. Munro looked to Telsia and nodded. They took up flanking positions on either side of Chell. Then bird-like...things began appearing in the room. Munro and Telsia opened fire with compression rifles. The first of the creatures began to disappear as they took fire. "Switch to rapid-fire!" yelled Munro, who switched to the MA5C assault rifle. The 7.62 armor-piercing rounds seemed to do a better job at stopping the bird-things.

Just as suddenly as the attack began, it ceased.

"_Blue Leader, status report."_

"We're fine sir. They just stopped attacking a moment ago." Munro replied

"_Same thing here..."_

"I got all I could from the data terminal. Let's get out of here." Chell said

"_There a slight snag there. Whatever alarm went off must have raised this thing's shields. We can't contact Voyager and we can't beam out. We need to regroup. Cortana did some scans and it looks like there is a junction point in Section 29."_

Chell quickly looked on his tricorder and found the section. "I see it." he said

_"We'll meet up there and figure out how to take these shields down. Red Leader out."_

The channel closed and Chell pointed to a walkway of sorts above them. "Section 29 is through that door up there."

"Great...how do we get up there?" asked Telsia.

"This way." Chell replied moving to the far side of the room near the two 'doors'. A 'console' flared open with a holographic interface. Chell scanned it with his tricorder and the right-hand door faded, then reappeared. Munro approached it and the door faded again. Munro tested the threshold, but the door didn't reappear. He nodded and his team proceeded to follow the corridor which led up to another 'door'. It faded...to reveal a pair of the bird-like creature that attacked them earlier. In a flash Munro had his rifle up and a pair of quick bursts made the bird things disappear. The door had reappeared as the team withdrew, then faded again as the team entered the room. Munro saw some devices on the floor. Then something clicked in his head. He replayed the fight in the control room in his head. The devices on the floors were some kind of transporter! He quickly pulled out a hand phaser and shot both devices then shot two more around the corner as another pair of birds tried to attack him but a burst from Telsia and Chell put them down.

Then they saw the walkway end with a platform of some kind. There was a purple/red light emanating from the platform. "What are those things?" asked Telsia

Chell approached it and looked closely. "Hmmmmmm, they seem to have an isophasic signature similar to our own transporter technology." he said

"Transporters?" asked Telsia

"Look over there." said Munro pointing to another platform. It was on the other side of the span. He took out a hand phaser and tossed it into the light. It disappeared from their side only to reappear on the other side. "These things must have set destinations." he said. Then he walked through the light and before he could blink he was on the other side. He motioned for them to follow which they did, hesitantly. The team advanced quickly but cautiously take out birds and teleporters with wild abandon. Then they came up to yet another door which faded open to reveal their pathway winding upwards around a 'tree'. On this three were several 'heads' that fired balls of energy at the team. They withdrew until the door faded into view again. Munro thought for a moment then switched to the Scavenger rifle with the energy grenade launcher. He moved slowly forward, just enough that the door faded from view, then he fired once, twice, three times taking out the majority of the heads on his side. "Stay alert there may be more heads on the other side." he said

The team temporarily switched to phasers as they were more effective than the projectiles against the structures. Then proceeded up the walkway to another door. They found themselves on the walkway above the control proceeded to the far end and after a series of doors, transporters and firefights they found Section 29.

"Where are they?" asked Telsia

"Maybe the aliens got them." said Chell

Then from above them came Biessman's voice "BOO!" Chell jumped nervously.

"Curious, our scans didn't indicate Section 29 had two separate levels." said Cortana.

"Hey Chell! I'm gonna jump! Catch me!" yelled Biessman.

Chell put his arms out intent on catching the commando.

"Stow it crewmen! Cortana any suggestions?" said the Chief forcefully.

"We need to deactivate the shields before we can beam out. Data indicates that there are three main power sources we need to hit in order to drop them. Munro, take your team to the Main computer core and shut it down." said Cortana, a NAV point appeared on Munro's HUD indicating bearing and distance to the target.

"The Chief will take his team and shut down the backup power generator here. We can then rendezvous at the main power core and shut it down." she said

"We'd best get moving." said Munro. The Chief nodded and lead his team out of the section. But before Biessman left he put his hand to his mouth. " Hey Chell, behind you!" he said in a warning tone.

Chell whirled around, phaser rifle in hand only to find nothing there.

Biessman laughed and ran to catch up with his team.

The Chief only shook his head in a _what am I gonna do with him?_ way.

Munro's team moved on after defeating an ambush in Section 29.


	9. First Mission Part 2

A/N: Here's another chapter, enjoy!

Chapter 9

First Mission part 2

Munro's team continued down the corridor and they came to a door. "I've got point." said Telsia and Munro waved her ahead. She approached the door and it disappeared on the other side were three of the teleportation devices used by the aliens on the ship. Munro, Chell and Telsia took out one each then they moved on. They turned left and went up a corridor, then reached a depression in the deck. Munro waved Telsia forward and she stepped down. Right as she did so, a pod-like organism opened up and an energy field of some kind covered the floor of the depression. Telsia disappeared before Munro could do anything. Chell immediately had his tricorder out and scanning. "There's...no trace of Telsia. It's as if she was completely vaporized." he said

"Some kind of energy field...from that pod." Munro replied, then he shot the pod once with a phaser pod exploded and the field deactivated. Munro sighed, "Let's go Chell. There's a transporter over there." he said

The two men stepped through to find themselves on a ledge of a much larger room with some kind of stalk-like...thing hovering in the air to the left. There was something else flying through the air in the room as well. The flying creature launched some kind of energy bolt which damaged Munro's armor and he shot the flying creature before it could attack again. Chell got too close to one of the stalks and it exploded. He backed off and shot the rest of the stalks. "There's a transporter down there but it's not active." Chell said

Munro looked around. His suit identified a console he could use that might activate it. He approached the console and it opened up for him displaying a holographic interface. He tapped one control and the transporter lit up. He and Chell jumped down from the ledge and stepped through. They heard a low thrumming noise coming from up ahead. They rounded a corner to find what they were looking for, the main computer core. From the floor a holographic image was displayed. There were four consoles around the core and Munro found that they changed the image from the ship they were on, to a large space station, to the starship graveyard to a planet. Chell attempted to shut down the core from a wall terminal nearby. "I can't shut down the core from here. The main controls are on that upper level. Munro looked up and saw the ceiling was a latticework and he could see the consoles they needed to access. Unfortunately there was a locked door nearby. Luckily Chell had found the security sequence and activated the door. They stepped through to find a transporter on their left, a large pillar to the right and a depression in the floor with an active energy field. There was another of the small flying creatures and Munro shot it down before it could cause him damage. He looked past the pillar and saw another transporter and several stalks hovering in the air on the other side. He took out the Scavenger rifle and fired through the transporter on his side. The dilithium crystal shards were immediately teleported to the other side and they impacted the stalks causing them to pop prematurely. _The pod for this energy field must be on the other side._ He thought. He fired another burst of crystal shards which again were teleported to the opposite side. They continued and impacted the pod he suspected was on the other side causing it to pop and deactivate the energy field. Then he continued to a door ahead to the right.

The two commandos fought their way through a hallway dodging spawning aliens and other defense measures. They reached the control room a few minutes later. "Alright, those consoles shut down the computer core. I'll work on getting this access door open." said Chell as he ran to the door at the opposite side of the core. Munro quickly hit the door consoles and he could hear the thrumming of the core slow down and eventually stop completely. Chell had just gotten the door open when Munro contacted the Chief. "Red leader to Blue leader."

_"Go ahead Red."_ said the Chief

"We just shut down the main computer core, we're on our way to the main power core."

_"Good, we just shut down the backup power core we're on our way as well."_

"Acknowledge, be advised Red team is one down." Munro said

_"Understood...rendezvous at the power core."_

Suddenly over the comm came the sounds of phaser fire. "Heads up!" Biessman said then, "Chang! Sir they got AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

"_Red Team I'm under heavy attack, get down to the power core and shut it down."_ before Munro could respond the channel went dead.

Chell looked at Munro with fear in his eyes. "Not so good for our first mission is it?" he said

"Keep it together Chell, we've got to get this data back to Voyager. They're counting on us. Let's go."

Moving on, Munro saw more stalks hovering in the air in the middle of the hallway. He shot them with an energy grenade, clearing the way for them to advance. He noticed the walls started to get a little grey, it must have something to do with shutting down the power core and computer core. He followed the corridor up until they saw many teleporters on the ground. "Get ready." Munro said pulling out his assault rifle. Then as if he had predicted it, several of the bird-like creatures began attacking. Munro and Chell managed to hold them off before the attack stopped. Then he saw a larger transporter to the right but it was darkened and looked damaged. "Oops I think I shot that transporter." said Chell

"The fireflys!" Munro said with realization. He had seen them repairing consoles and teleporters earlier. Munro went back down the corridor and saw the flies hovering over a console and shot it. The entities instantly repaired it and it lit up again. He turned behind him and shot another console. This seemed to attract the firefly-like things and they moved to the damaged console and repaired it, then moved on to the transporter and before they knew it, the transporter lit up again. Munro stepped through and found himself one level above Chell, he could see the room he was just in via a latticework of...something. He rounded a corner and saw one of the bird-like things working on a console. He saw two of the teleporters to either side. Munro took a photon grenade and tossed it toward the console. The bird-thing noticed it immediately and turned to attack. Munro hosed it with 7.62 mm rounds and it disappeared. That was another thing he noticed, instead of falling to the ground, it seemed when the creatures took sufficient damage they disappeared.

The two men continued down several corridors and hallways until they came to a room with a ramp going around a console leading up to a forcefield. When they entered the room they were instantly attacked but managed to hold off the bird-things. Chell went to the console and began working on it. "This console will probably open that forcefield up there...ut...hmmmmmm...the only way it's going to stay open is if one of us keeps it open from here...guess that means me huh?" he said

"Don't worry Chell, we'll be out of here soon, I'll keep an open comm channel." Munro replied

"Ok...but hurry!"

Munro went through the forcefield threshold and was immediately attacked by several birds. He had to reload several times but made it to a teleporter on the far side of the room. The teleporter took him to a walkway above the main floor and he saw another teleporter ahead. Dodging the birds now shooting some kind of energy ball at him and jumped through the teleporter. He saw a console, a field pod and the tell-tale depression in the floor with an active energy field. He also saw firefly like entities in the room. Thinking quickly he shot the console then the pod and as the flies were moving to repair the console, Munro jumped down and ran across the depression he managed to climb back up just before the fireflies regenerated the pod and the energy field deactivated. He followed the corridor until he saw the Chief literally surrounded by the birds. He lent his assault rifle to the mix and took out another bird that tried to flank him from the right. The area was quickly secured and Munro joined the Chief. "Thanks for the help Munro. Where is Chell?" he asked

"He had to stay behind, but he's okay. What happened to Chang and Biessman?" Munro replied

"Those bird things overwhelmed us but I got away. We've got to move on if we're going to salvage this mission." the Chief replied

Munro and the Chief proceeded down a series of hallways fighting off repeated bird attacks. As they crossed over a lattice-work, Munro saw Chell below him. Chell called out "Hey Munro! Hurry up...I thought I heard something down here."

They continued and popped some stalks again then more birds came at them from a larger area. They defeated them quickly and moved into the room. The Chief looked around. "Cortana, any idea what these things are?" he asked

"I'm reading, Human, Malon and Klingon lifesigns in the pods. It appears they function not unlike UNSC cryo pods. The aliens might use similar hibernation techniques." she replied

"You said you were reading Human lifesigns?" asked Munro looking at one of the pods. "Yes." Cortana replied then the Chief joined Munro. "What the- It's Biessman and Telsia, They're all here."

"We've got to get them out of there." said Munro

"If we can shut down main power we might be able to beam them out if it's not too late." replied the Chief, who moved to a console by a door blocked by a forcefield. He tapped the console and the field collapsed. They moved on and found themselves on a large ledge with several 'spawners', the teleporters used by the aliens. "There it is." said the Chief.

The two men quickly made their way to the other side where there was a teleporter. The birds were attacking them the entire way. Munro started taking out the 'spawners' which lowered the number of birds to deal with. The two men disappeared through the teleporter and found themselves in the main power core area. They moved to a console but one of the bird-like things appeared in front of them. Before the Chief or Munro could raise their weapons the bird...spoke.

"Do not stop power. My people in stasis will die." it said

"Hold on, you trapped us on this ship and attacked us." said Munro. The Chief deferred to him in this now diplomatic situation.

"You invade us! Believed you were the others, tried to contact you, communication methods very...different, you attack us." replied the bird

"They were trying to communicate?" asked Cortana

"We're sorry for the misunderstanding. For killing some of your people. We were only acting in self defense." Munro said

"Killed? Have not killed, when injured our people return to stasis. Regenerated. Your people too not killed in stasis, analyzed." the bird said

"On behalf of all of us. I apologize. We thought the vessel was abandoned. We only wanted information from your computer. We're trying to find a way out of here." said Munro

The bird seemed to brighten "Our knowledge is yours! Request and receive, we are allies, we will lower defenses you may return to your vessel." it said

"Munro to Voyager."

"_Ensign! It's good to hear from you. What happened over there?"_ asked Janeway

"It's a long story ma'am, let's just say we've made an ally. We do have injuries we need to beam directly to sickbay." replied Munro

"_Understood, we're beaming them out now."_ Janeway said.

The three wounded crewmen were beamed straight out of the stasis pods over to sickbay, then the Chief and Munro were also beamed over as well.


	10. Information

A/N: I'm going to try and keep any of the shorter chapters at a thousand words. Enjoy the next chapter! Please Review.

Chapter 10

Information

Ensign Munro and the Chief both beamed into sickbay from the Etherian ship. The Chief took off his helmet and allowed the Doctor to scan him. "You're fine, Chief. Your armor protected you quite well." he said

The Chief approached Munro "It was touch and go there for a little while Munro, but we got the mission done. Have the Doctor look you over and then go to Hazard Ops, the rest of the team will be there shortly for debriefing." he said, then walked out the door.

Munro spoke with the Doctor who gave him a clean bill of health, then walked out of sickbay and took a turbolift to Hazard Operations. From there he went to the locker room to wait for debriefing.

"I still can't believe we were all nearly killed last time." Chell was saying as Munro came up to the conversation in the locker room.

"Yeah…they messed us up pretty good." Said Biessman

"Well that's not really fair…we didn't know what to expect. We didn't have all the information." Said Telsia

"Hey Munro." Said Biessman

"Alex did you hear anything about where they're sending us next?" Telsia asked him

"I heard Chakotay and Tuvok talking about the scavengers." Said Chell

"Oh yeah?" replied Biessman

"I ran into Kim, he was going over the data we brought back. He says there's some kind of machine that brought us here." said Telsia

Another commando, Crewmen Odell, stood nearby. "Hey Munro, scuttlebut says I'll be along on the next mission. Some kind of stealth operation?" he said

Before Munro could respond Cortana called the Hazard team to the briefing room. They all walked in and took their seats. Commander Chakotay was in the front of the room with Cortana on a nearby holo-pedestal and the Chief was also seated in a reinforced chair near the front.

He nodded, then began speaking. "With the information your team retrieved, we've been able to learn a few things about our situation." A large screen on the back wall snapped on and showed the machine Munro and Chell had seen in the computer core of the Etherian ship. "This is called the 'Forge'. It's generating the dampening field thats keeping Voyager and the other ships trapped here."

Munro spoke up. "Do we have any idea what's running that thing? Or why it's here?" he asked

"No...the Etherians had no detailed information about it. For all we know it could be a simple machine." Chakotay replied. Then he tapped more controls and the screen changed to an image of an isotope. "This is Isodesium. A rare isotope that doesn't seem to be affected by the Forge's dampening field. B'Elanna thinks she can use it to complete repairs and hopefully we can escape. We've located a source of Isodesium. Unfortunately it's located here." The screen changed again to a structure of some kind. To most of the members of the Hazard team it looked as if a Hirogen, Malon, Klingon and a Federation ship all had a collision. Munro recognized the Federation ship as a Constitution class and the Klingon ship as a large Bird of Prey.

"What is that?" asked Munro

"The Scavengers base of operations." the screen changed again to images of the raiders that had greeted Voyager upon its entry into the graveyard. "These are the scavengers. A loose alliance of survivors from the other ships trapped here. They survive by raiding other ships for supplies, like their attack on Voyager earlier. It looks like they use some Isodesium but most of it is scattered throughout the base. It looks like they have a transporter inhibitor field surrounding the base. So a team of six will be shuttled to the base by Ensign Paris. Once there, Ken and Foster will set up an extraction point with pattern enhancers. Chief, you're up." said Chakotay

The Chief walked up to the front of the room. "This is a stealth mission. I will be along to plant explosive charges at specific points so we can destroy the base. Cortana will also be along, she'll provide you with tactical data and assistance with locked doors and secured systems. We also have a variety of new weapons for you to test. Cortana and I have been working on modifying UNSC weapons with Federation technology. We've been able to install a small replicator in the weapons themselves. The clips are now power packs with the capacity to replicate twice the standard amount of ammunition in any one clip. So instead of sixty rounds, you've got one hundred twenty. This will reduce what you need to carry. These power cells are rechargeable so hang on to them once they're expended. When they're on your belt, they are linked to your armor. If you walk up to a weapon terminal it will not only replenish your phaser ammunition but it will recharge your clips as well. Also available is the Active Camouflage used by Stealth Elite during the Human-Covenant war. The heat signature has been reduced but the duration has been increased and they are rechargeable as well. While it does hide you from normal eyesight, I wouldn't move directly in front of someone. The Active Camouflage can be spotted by a shimmer in the air and the scavengers could be trigger-happy. My personal weapon recommendations for this mission are as follows: Silenced SMG, battle rifle or assault rifle, silenced M6D pistol. Personally I believe the phaser rifle is too loud for stealth missions. I would seriously consider using UNSC weapons for this mission. Any questions?" the Chief asked.

"Very well, gear up and report to the shuttle bay." he said

Thirty minutes later the team was waiting in the shuttlebay. The ground crew was having trouble with the docking clamps on the Delta Flyer. Paris asked the Chief to see if he could reach the override. He did so quickly and the mission was a go. The team piled into the Delta Flyer and it took off for the Scavenger base.


	11. Infiltration

A/N: A short chapter I know but hopefully it's better written than the original. Please read and review.

Chapter 12

Infiltration

Three Starfleet officers and a SPARTAN super-soldier crept into the airlock of the Klingon vessel. Telsia and Odell were at the airlocks of the Federation and Malon ships. Ensign Alexander Munro and the Chief checked ahead and made sure there were no enemies. With the airlock secured, ensign Lathrop and Lieutenant Foster setup pattern enhancers to beam the team back but didn't activate them because the energy signature could be detected. Foster nodded to Munro and the Chief. The Chief pulled out a computer chip and held it up to a console. A moment later Cortana came over the comm.

"I'm in. Their computer security is laughable. I've already got access to internal sensors critical systems and restricted areas. I can unlock doors at your request and generate sensor ghosts to keep them of your trail if you are detected.I've tagged the locations of isodesium samples and I've also made contact with ensigns Murphy and Odell. They are proceeding to their objectives." she said

Munro nodded "Let's go Chief." he said

The Chief nodded, raised his weapon, a silenced SMG and crept forward with Munro close behind. The two men climbed a short ladder then entered what appeared to be the bridge of the Klingon ship. Munro froze.

There was a Klingon in the Captain's chair...sleeping. The Chief nodded and pulled out a knife, then crept up behind the Klingon and slit his throat. The Klingon was dead before he knew it. There was a closet nearby and the Chief stashed the body in the closet. Munro had already tapped a control to unlock the other side of the bridge and the Chief planted a spacial charge under the Captain's chair. They continued forward until they reached a long corridor with cargo containers and two patrolling Klingons and one sleeping Klingon.

The Chief and Munro pulled out silenced pistols. They aimed at one patroller each. They pulled the trigger at the same time. Two soft coughs sounded but didn't wake the sleeping Klingon.

But the sound of bodies hitting the floor did. Another cough put the sleeping Klingon down as he tried to rise. Then the Chief and Munro crept through the cargo area, disposing of one more sleeping Klingon, then stashing the bodies in dark corners. The Chief placed four more spacial charges in the cargo area then motion for Munro to move ahead. The cargo area ended in a T-junction. The corridor to the left led to a jammed door. The one to the right led to a larger cargo bay with two wide awake Klingons who were patrolling the upper deck. Munro made a hand gesture then disappeared as his active camo activated. The Chief quickly followed suit and hid with Munro behind some containers. On the floor ahead of them was some kind of creature that crawled on multiple legs. Munro thought it looked like an overgrown centipede. A Klingon noticed the creature and opened fire. A single burst from his rifle put it down. "BA! Filthy creature!" it said. The other Klingon nodded then they both moved to a large door at the back of the upper deck. The door opened to reveal a turbolift which the Klingons boarded. The Chief and Munro stepped out from their cover and checked the rest of the bay. There was a locked door near where they had entered the cargo bay.

"Munro to Cortana. Can you unlock the door in front of us?" he asked

"_Standby._" she replied

The door opened quietly and the two men moved through. Ahead were two Klingons. One patrolling the corridor, and the other working on a console on the wall. Munro nodded to the Chief who pulled out his silenced pistol and crept forward. The Chief and Munro crept up behind the working Klingon. Munro aimed at the working Klingon while the Chief aimed at the patroller who was about to turn around. The Chief pulled the trigger and his pistol coughed. The patroller dropped like a rock. At the same time Munro put a bullet in the working Klingon's head. Then both men hid the bodies before climbing another ladder. While they did this, Telsia and Odell checked in over the comm.

"_Telsia checking in sir. I found a sample of the isodesium. Sir this area looks like a Federation ship, early 23rd century. But I don't recognize these markings…_"

"Ensign Murphy this is Cortana, that is the sign of the mirror universe discovered by James T. Kirk. Be advised, the humans from that universe are extremely violent. Proceed with caution."

"_Understood Murphy out._"

"_Odell to Foster, I found some isodesium. This section looks Mallon in design: run down, lots of fog, radiation levels are high._"

"Roger, Foster out."

The Chief and Munro took out two more Klingons in the area ahead, then moved through a door. They found themselves above a mess hall of some kind. One that was full of Klingons eating what Munro thought to be one of the parasite creatures he had seen earlier. As they crept along some beams of steel, they heard Odell come over the comm.

"_Oh my God..."_ he said

"Cortana to Odell, I have a Hirogen life sign closing on your position, activate your camoflauge now!"

Then there was silence on the comm.

The Chief motioned to Munro to continue on and took down a pair of patrolling Klingons in the corridor ahead. Munro saw a NAV point on his HUD and the secure door in front of it opened. There was an energy terminal nearby along with a sample of Isodesium. Munro quickly collected the sample and contacted Lieutenant Foster.

Going back the way they came they saw an open door with a large hole in the floor. The room below held two sleeping Klingons. Two pistol coughs put both down permanently. Munro dropped down first and winced at the noise he made. He tensed for a shout of alarm, then relaxed as the Chief dropped...and made a dent in the floor. Munro moved out of the room into the corridor outside the mess hall filled with Klingons. The two men crept past quickly then down a ladder.

The area ahead was filled with cargo containers and three Klingons. One patrolled back and forth, the other two worked on consoles on the far side. Three quick coughs from a pistol put all of them down. Again the two men took the time to hide the bodies in closets and dark corners. Then moved through a door into a much larger area with three levels. Munro saw another NAV point marking the location of an Isodesium sample. He crawled into a conduit and removed the sample.

It must have been powering something because when he removed it a female Klingon on the next level growled. "What happened?" she asked

"I don't know, check the terminal." said a male.

As Munro crawled out he saw the Chief at a ladder ahead. He nodded to the Chief and the Chief climbed the short ladder, then put a pair of rounds into each Klingon. They fell with hardly a sound. The Chief planted more spacial charges in the second of the three levels. The third level held half-a-dozen Klingons working on consoles and patrolling corridors. Then Ensign Murphy came over the comm.

"_Cortana, I need a diversion. This area is heavily guarded. I don't think my active camo will last long enough. Can you transfer power away from this quadrant?_" she asked.

"Standby." Cortana replied

"_That did it! Thanks Cortana._"

The Chief and Munro climbed the ladder to the third level then hid behind some containers. A pistol coughed, taking down the Klingon closest to them. Four more pistol shots coughed and four Klingons went down.

With the area clear, the men moved down a corridor.


	12. Conflicting Views 1 & 2

A/N: I decided to combine both Conflicting Views parts into one chapter. Hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more.

Chapter 12

Conflicting Views Parts 1 and 2

The Chief and Munro found themselves on the upper level of a cargo bay. On the floor below a group of Klingons and Malons were having an argument. The Chief gave a quick hand signal and both men disappeared from sight. They silently crept down a ladder, collected an isodesium sample from behind a crate, then moved beyond a door of Malon manufacture. Ahead of them was another door that was locked. Munro tapped his combadge.

"Munro to Foster, I have the last sample of isodesium. The Chief and I are on our way back." he said

"_Hold on Munro, Odell hasn't reported back yet. Can you two go check it out?" _Said Foster

"Yes sir."

"_Munro this is Cortana, I've lost Odell's tracking signal. His last known location was in the Hirogen sector. You'll have to go through the Malon sector to get there. Standby, I'll unlock the security door."_ Said Cortana

"Understood." replied Munro

A moment later the door opened and Munro saw pumps.

Lots of pumps.

The Chief nodded to the left and broke through a grate in the wall. The two men crawled into a Jefferies-tube-like tunnel and proceeded through it with pistols drawn. Two of the parasite creatures seen earlier appeared around a corner and the Chief put both down with a single shot to each. The two men crawled out of the tunnel to find another area slightly flooded with the green tinted anti-matter waste the Malon were known for. Both men carefully stepped over those areas, climbed a ladder and crawled into another small tunnel.

The Chief held up a fist. The hand single to 'stop where you are'.

Munro heard voices ahead along with the pumps which were now soft background noise. Munro could see through the grates to his side. There were two Malon standing near a console with two more patrolling the perimeter. Munro tapped the Chief on the back and flashed a quick hand signal. "Munro to Cortana. I need a diversion. Can you stop the pumps in the Malon section near my position?"

"_Standby...got it."_ she replied

The pumps ceased.

"What happened to the pumps?" asked one Malon

"They must have gotten jammed again. Let's go down and check it out." said another

All four Malon gathered on a lift in the center of the room. It descended one level. The Chief and Munro crawled out and the Chief hit a console that flooded the chamber below them. It also unlocked one of the doors on their level. The two men stepped out to see the chamber flooded with anti-matter waste and a large Klingon cargo container floating between them and a door across the way. Munro jumped across, landing on the crate without a problem. It felt very solid to him. But he scanned the crate with his tricorder.

"Chief, this crate should hold your weight without a problem." he said

Munro jumped to the other side and climbed a ladder. Then watched the Chief leap across and land on the crate. The two-tons of armor and human left a sizable dent in the crate but it was otherwise undamaged. The Chief quickly joined Munro and stepped through a doorway to the next area.

The Chief and Munro emerged through the door and stood on a catwalk high above a pool of anti-matter waste. Two Malon stood near a locked door. There were no other Malon in the area so with a nod to Munro, he pulled out a silenced pistol and aimed at the Malon.

Four quiet coughs sounded.

Two Malon died before their bodies hit the floor. They tensed, waiting for an ambush but none came. Munro climbed down a nearby ladder and the Chief quickly followed suite. The two men reached the door quickly but it wouldn't budge. _Probably jammed _thought Munro. Munro saw a maintenance tunnel directly behind him and motioned to the Chief. Both men crawled into the tube and followed a path of grates on the floor above a layer of anti-matter waste. They followed the conduit until they found a larger area. Two more parasite creatures appeared and spit some kind of acid at the two men who quickly put a pair of rounds into each creature. The two men crawled out and made their way around a large pool of toxic waste, climbed some pipes and another ladder. They soon heard new voices.

The new voices were not Malon. They were of a lower tone, almost predatory.

_Hirogen._ The Chief thought. One of the first things he had done upon becoming a guest aboard Voyager had been to look into the recent enemies of the ship. He studied them hard learning as much as he could about their tactics and technology as well as the sociological points of the culture in question.

"Where is the Alpha?" one voice asked.

"He's on a hunt. Some fresh prey I hear." replied another.

_Fresh prey_. It must mean they've either found Odell or they've given up the hunt which was unlikely.

The two men continued through the crawlway and dropped to the floor after finding a large hole in the grating. There was a door in front of them but as they approached it, Cortana came over the comm. "Chief? Munro? I'm picking up Hirogen lifesigns ahead. Proceed with caution." she said

"Acknowledged." replied Munro who then nodded to the Chief.

By now both men had switched to silenced Battle Rifles and approached the door on either side. As it raised Munro tossed in a flashbang under the door which immediately went off, disorienting the Hirogen within. The two men quickly moved in and put down three Hirogen with two bursts each. They approached another pair of doors and quickly moved through eliminating another pair of Hirogen waiting beyond. Munro quickly found a lift to a lower level. The lift groaned as it lowered not only Munro's weight but the Chief's as well. The level below had at least six Hirogen, three of which opened fire as soon as the lift began to descend. Both men took damage to their shields but were quick to find cover and return fire. Three Hirogen went down quickly while the other three took slightly longer as Munro and the Chief cleared the large room.

Munro found a maintenance hatch leading to a ladder well. Munro looked up...then down.

"Chief! I've found Odell. He's alive!" he said as he dropped down to Odell's side.

"Munro..." Odell's voice was at a whisper.

Munro quickly had a medkit out and was scanning Odell. "My weapon...communicator...taken...never saw them." Odell said weakly.

"Save your strength Tom. I'll get you out of here." Munro said, then tapped his combadge. "Munro to Foster. I've found Odell. He's hurt bad. I've placed a pattern enhancer and portable transporter to him and will beam him back to the extraction point with his Isodesium."

"_Understood._" Foster replied

"Munro...wait...I still have to get...one more sample of Isodesium..." Odell said

"Don't worry. We'll get it." said Munro, then he activated the transporter and Odell disappeared in blue light. Munro and the Chief crawled through a short tunnel to find a Malon pushing a crate against a wall.

He dropped without a sound.

Munro's tricorder identified more Malon ahead as him and the Chief emerged into an expansive cargo bay with a gap in the middle. The two men quickly cleared their side of Malon when more scavengers arrived on the other side. They appeared to be human, wearing uniforms of 23rd century Starfleet design but modified. As Munro and the Chief took cover and began to return fire, they took notice of the symbols on the wall on the other side which looked to Munro like a Federation ship.

He quickly put aside his analytical thoughts as scavenger rounds flew overhead, then leaned around the crate he was behind and put down a scavenger with a single bursts. He heard the Chief firing almost constantly and as the fire died down he was able to peek out and see at least a dozen bodies on the other side and even as he looked at the bodies, three more fell to highly accurate battle rifle bursts.

The firing suddenly stopped and he and the Chief swept the area as best they could. As they did so, Munro spotted another sample of Isodesium. It appeared to be powering the crane system.

"Munro to Cortana. I've found the last sample of Isodesium. But there's a huge bay between us. There appears to be a crane system but the control room is on the other side." he said

"_Munro, that section of the base is isolated from the rest. I can't get in and I won't be able to track you. You'll be on your own. Crewmen Murphy is in the area however."_ Cortana replied

_"Alex? I think I know where you are. I was just there hold on." said Telsia _

Munro nodded to the Chief and both men aimed at the control room but kept their fingers off the trigger. They saw Telsia enter the room and sweep it quickly with her rifle. The room was clear so she activated the crane. Before she could do anything else a pair of scavengers came in behind her.

"Take her alive." said one.

Before the other could move in, he dropped with a trio of bullet into his chest. This gave Telsia the opening she needed and fired her rifle from the hip, hitting the other scavenger with another burst of bullets.

_"Thanks guys. I don't know what they would have-"_ Telsia started to say. But a phaser beam caught her from behind and stunned her. Another group of scavengers came and took her away.

Frustrated, Munro contacted Foster. "Munro to Foster, Telsia has been captured the Chief and I will rescue her." he said

"_Of all the- Munro, be careful, we can't afford to lose another man._" Foster replied

"Let's go Chief." Munro said, hopping down to a platform, then climbing a ladder to another platform that was moving back and forth between the bays. Munro quickly reached the other side followed by the Chief. Munro ran to one side and grabbed the Isodesium sample. The crane came to a screeching halt. _It must have been powering the crane._ He thought. Munro quickly rejoined the Chief and they moved into a turbolift.


	13. Disorder and Infiltration

A/N: I've decided to post trailers and teasers of future stories after actual chapters. Hope you enjoy this next chapter and the longer trailer for Halo: Defection

Chapter 13

Disorder and Infiltration

The turbolift, groaning with the weight of one normal human and one two-ton super soldier, stopped. The Chief and Munro moved forward and were forced to turn left through a short Klingon corridor before finding a large room filled with...scavengers...sleeping, snoring scavengers. Munro nodded to the Chief and both men disappeared after activating their active camouflage. They silently crept past the sleeping crewmembers and out the door. The door squeaked when it opened, both men froze, half-expecting the room full of scavengers to come alive but they still lay there...asleep. They crept through a corridor and passed close enough to a set of doors to set them off. Half the door opened but the other half remained shut. The doors began groaning and creaking, trying to complete their sequence. Beyond the doors they heard two men playing three-dimensional chess.

"What was that?" asked one

"Sounded like those broken doors over there." replied the other.

"We should check it out." said the first.

Munro and the Chief quickly moved around the corner and quietly disposed of two parasite creatures lurking in a corner.

"When are those lazy techs going to fix this thing?" asked the first

"Yea...it's been like this for months." replied the other

"Well if it were up to me Spider would be in the agony booth for a week." said the first.

"Let's just jam it open." said the other

"Yea fine...hey come on let's get some grub."

The two men jammed the door open then walked away.

Munro and the Chief let their active camouflage run out, then moved back to the doors. To the left was a door blocked by a forcefield. Munro quickly located the control for the field in a nearby room and deactivated it. He heard the Chief move in and two quick coughs from a silenced pistol. Munro quickly rejoined the Chief only to find two more dead parasite creatures. Moving on the Chief and Munro eventually found themselves in a small upper level of main engineering. They waited until most of the scavengers left. But the conversation they held was of great interest to the two infiltrators.

_So they caught this woman trying to steal some of our isodesium. She had a whole bag full of it._

_What? Where did she come from?_

_Nobody knows but Doc Kreege has got her down in sickbay for questioning._

So Telsia was in sickbay and they were getting ready to question her. They had to move fast. Once two of the scavengers left Munro and the Chief jumped down to the main floor and quietly took out the other two with single shots to the back. They moved up the short stairs and into a Jefferies tube...where they killed at least eight more of the parasite creatures then climbed a ladder to the deck below.

* * *

On the deck below there were scavengers actively patrolling the corridors. Munro and the Chief crept around them as much as they could before stopping behind a box. Their active camo had not recharged yet so they had to wait until the coast was clear. While they did so, they were privy to yet another scavenger conversation.

"Anything to report?" asked a scavenger wearing a redshirt

"Yea I'm bored out of my mind." replied another wearing a goldshirt

"You goldshirts are so lazy..." said red

"Yea...well you redshirts think you run this ship..." replied gold

"Watch your mouth...watch your back..." replied red

Both men disappeared around a corner and the Chief and Munro took the opportunity to cross the corridor and get into another room that was relatively secured. Munro opened an encrypted comm channel to the Chief. "So...we know where Telsia is but the area is swarming with scavengers. It's going to be impossible for us to get to her without being detected." he said

"So we go in hard and loud...we're not far from sickbay either. The sooner we get to her the sooner we can get her out." replied the Chief

Munro spotted the uniforms hanging on a wall...uniforms...

"Wait a second, I've got an idea. I'll go on ahead disguised as one of them. Once I have Telsia you can go loud and catch up fairly quickly." said Munro

"Not a bad plan. It should work...so long as you don't get caught." replied the Chief

Munro put the simple uniform on. He made sure to cover as much of his armor as he could, then pulled out a scavenger rifle and checked to make sure it was fully charged. "How do I look?" he asked

"Like a lowly crewmen."

"Good." replied Munro

The Chief stepped aside and Munro walked out the doors. Ahead were two scavengers dressed in blue uniforms...they completely ignored him. He turned to his right...and nearly fell of the ledge of a turboshaft. He quickly recovered then jumped across to the ladder. He quickly climbed down and moved into the corridors where there were more patrolling scavengers. He quickly found sickbay and entered the room. He would have shot the doctor and released Telsia but he stayed his hand. Then the Doctor noticed him.

"You there! The prisoner is a bit stubborn get me some Veritrax-12 from the lab...it's the blue hypospray." the Doctor said

Munro quickly moved around a corner and into the office. There were two desks in the office. One held the blue hyposprays full of Veritrax-12. Something he assumed was a truth serum of some kind. But the other desk caught his attention. It was full of orange-colored hyposprays which his built-in sensor system identified as Solinol...tranquilizer...

Munro grabbed both hyposprays and approached the Doctor from behind. He handed the Doctor the blue hypospray with his right hand...then with his left injected the Solinol into the Doctor's neck. The Doctor fell into Munro's arms without a sound. Munro gently let him down to the floor then approached Telsia. He pulled back the hood on his uniform and she smiled when she saw his face.

"It's me...Alex..." said Munro

"Thank goodness...undo these restraints." she replied

He tapped some controls and she sat up and collected her gear. Munro sent a quick message to the Chief indicating that he had located and freed Telsia...

* * *

When the Chief got the message he was still in the room with the uniforms...luckily no one had come to change while he waited. In a flash he was out the door. Two quick shots and the scavengers at the end of the hall dropped with hardly a sound. The Chief jumped down the turboshaft and crouched to cushion the impact then moved out and put quick bursts into three more patrolling scavengers. Then entered sickbay where Telsia and Munro waited for him.

Elapsed time: 45 seconds..._I'm getting rusty_ the Chief thought.

* * *

"The only way back to the extraction point is through the control center and it's sure to be guarded." said Telsia

"Then you'll have to pretend to be my prisoner. The Chief can follow with active camouflage."

"Oh come on Munro that's the oldest one in the book!" said Telsia

"Old usually works...once..." said the Chief

"He's right, once we use that trick we go loud from there and get back to the extraction point." said Munro

"Right, let's go." said Telsia

Telsia, Muro and the Chief moved outside sickbay and towards the control room. The door was locked but luckily there was a keypad and passcode for the door...which Telisa happened to have. The Chief cloaked and waited for the door to open. When it did, he immediately spotted four scavengers inside. With her hands behind her back Telisa flashed four fingers to Munro signaling him that there were indeed four enemies. They approached the scavengers and the Chief stayed back ready to jam the door before reinforcements came.

A gold-shirted scavenger stopped them.

"Where are you taking her?" he asked

"She's my prisoner." replied Munro

"Why did you bring her here? I never told anyone to...wait...who are you...men detain them both."

And with that the firefight erupted...and lasted roughly thirty seconds. Four bursts from silenced battle rifles put all four down while the door they had entered had been jammed shut but the Chief. Munro hit a control on what appeared to be the Captain's chair and the door behind them opened revealing a Klingon-style corridor. The three commandos crept down the corridor with professionalism. They quickly moved into a room with three scavengers. None reacted quickly enough to even take a shot or scream for help. All three quickly moved into the next area where they found a large turbolift. Munro activated it and it began to descend...

* * *

Halo: Defection Trailer

An Elite stood before the Prophets of Truth, Mercy and Regret. "Noble Hierarch I must confess I am uneasy with this war...You told us the Humans were small, insignificant...yet they inhabit multiple planets and incur heavy casualties and fight to the last. I have seen great acts of heroism and courage that would put many a Sangheili to shame."

* * *

"We wish to defect..." said an Elite

"Say again?" asked a Human commander

* * *

"With the defector's ship we have a chance to study their technology and apply it to our own ships." said an intelligence operative.

"It appears this particular Elite has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties..." said a JAG officer.

* * *

"We can no longer trust the Sangheili with our lives..." said Regret.

"The Defector was right...The prophets have betrayed us..." said another Elite

* * *

"Sir, the Covenant ships are opening fire...on each other!" said an astonished crewmen.

"Let's give the Sangheili a hand then, lock weapons on the Brute ships and open fire." replied the Captain.


	14. The Hunter

A/N: Here's another Chapter! Hope you enjoy...BTW, I need some suggestions for Sanghelli names for my upcoming Halo:Defection story. If I like them, I'll use them and give you credit for them. I need at least four or five names.

Chapter 14

The Hunter

Munro, Murphy and the Chief stepped off the lift into the cargo bay they had passed through on the way in. With military professionalism the three commandos swept the area quickly. The Chief and Murphy were on the lower level while Munro swept the upper ledge. Then he heard the sound of footsteps.

"Who's there?" he asked

"Alex? What's wrong?" asked Telsia

"I thought I heard something." Munro replied

Then he heard the voice. "I am the Hunter...you are my prey..."

Munro whipped around, rifle up.

There was a Hirogen standing right behind him.

"I am no one's prey." Munro said defiantly

"I have been tracking you since you entered our hunting grounds. Your performance has been exemplary you shall be a challenging prey." the Hunter said then disappeared in a manner not unlike Munro's active camouflage system.

On the floor below, Murphy and the Chief both had their weapons aimed at the Hunter as he cloaked and kept them up as they searched for him. "No sign of him on thermal." said the Chief

"I'll take care of him. You and Telsia get to the rendezvous." replied Munro

"We won't leave you behind." said Murphy

"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you." Munro replied

He nodded to the Chief who tapped Murphy on the shoulder both of them left the cargo bay and got back to the rendezvous. Munro was left alone in the cargo bay with the invisible Hunter.

"Come out come out wherever you are..." Munro said, weapon raised and scanning.

A flicker of motion caught his attention and his rifle swung in that direction. A burst of fire impacted the Hunter's shields, revealing his position. A longer burst forced him to take cover as his shield drained.

"Your skull will make an excellent trophy for my wall!" yelled the Hunter who quickly fired back using some kind of gattling gun.

Munro took cover behind some boxes. Then leaned around a corner and fired another longer burst of ten rounds. The rounds impacted the Hunter's shields forcing him to take cover again. Munro tossed a flashbang, then moved in quickly and disarmed the Hunter.

With the Hunter's own weapon, Munro held him at gunpoint. "The hunt...is over...you have become the prey." said Munro

"You are the victor." replied the Hunter.

In a flash Munro flipped the gatling gun over and presented it, grip-first to the Hunter. "Nice weapon." He said, then pulled his fist back and punched the Hunter in the face.

The Hunter was out cold.

Munro quickly moved to the door but it was locked. Then he heard Klingon voices on the other side.

"What's going on in there?...Open this door...who's in there?...You! cut this door down." one said

Then Munro saw sparks coming from the door. He quickly crouched behind a crate not far from the door and reloaded his weapon. Then he pulled out a flashbang and waited until the door exploded outward. He tossed the grenade which exploded in the middle of about a half-dozen Klingons and disoriented them. Then Munro rose up and with quick controlled bursts put each of them down. He then moved down the corridor, putting down another half-dozen enemies with short controlled bursts.

He reached the smaller cargo bay he had passed through when he first entered the base. From the other end came a flurry of scavenger rifle fire. He quickly pulled back around the corner and reloaded his weapon. Then, in a lull in the firing he sprinted to a crate roughly half-way through the bay. He tossed a photon grenade to the other end, heard a yell then a pair of Klingons were vaporized. Munro moved up again and took down two more Klingons in the next corridor.

He moved to the door to the bridge.

It opened.

Time seemed to slow as a Klingon with a dagger tried to stab him overhead.

His training kicked in.

He swung the battle rifle's stock into the Klingon's head. The knife dropped from the Klingons hand and Munro put a burst of fire into the Klingon while he was dazed.

The Klingon dropped like a rock.

In minutes Munro was back at the rendezvous.

Foster and the Chief nodded and Foster spoke. "All right that's everyone. Activate the pattern enhancers, I've got the isodesium." he said

Munro, Murphy and the Chief knelt and activated the pattern enhancers.

As soon as they activated, six Borg drones beamed in.

At once weapons raised and fired. Three drones went down almost immediately. One drone swung a large arm at the Chief who blocked it and held it there, then pushed the drone away and backed off. Another drone walked up behind Foster, who was firing a compression rifle at a third drone. That drone had adapted to the frequency and was unharmed. Munro saw the drone behind Foster and tried to get a shot off. But before he could pull the trigger Foster, the isodesium and two drones were beamed out.

"Where did they come from?" asked Telsia

With resignation, Munro tapped his combadge. "Munro to Voyager...four to beam back." he said quietly.

Commander Tuvok stood in the transporter room. The operator saw that one was wounded and reported this to Tuvok. "Sir, one of them is wounded, it's Odell." he said

"Beam the wounded directly to sickbay." replied Tuvok

Three people appeared on the transporter pad. They stepped down and approached Tuvok. "Where is Lt. Foster? Would you mind explaining exactly what happened?" asked Tuvok

"We don't know where they came from sir, but six Borg drones beamed in when we activated the pattern enhancers." Munro replied

"They took Foster and the isodesium." Telsia said

"Could you not have prevented the Borg from taking the isodesium?" Tuvok asked

"Sir, none of us had a clear shot past Lt. Foster. Three of the drones went down immediately, but the last ones adapted to the phaser rifles of the team. They were in and out before we could react." said the Chief

"Mrs. Murphy you are dismissed." said Tuvok.

"Mr. Munro, prepare a full report. I will summon you both when we determine what action to take." said Tuvok.

As Tuvok walked out, Munro turned to the Chief. "You know I didn't have a clear shot." he said

"I know Munro, it's not your fault. But at least we know my weapons are effective against them." replied the Chief

"I guess you're right...I should go make out that report." Munro said quietly, then left the transporter room.

To tell the truth, the Chief was slightly shaken as well. He had never had a mission fail at the very end like this one had. Not only did they lose the isodesium, but Foster had been captured and was possibly being assimilated right now.


	15. Fallout and Proving Ground

A/N: Here's another chapter hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 15

Fallout

Munro wrote his report and submitted it to Commander Tuvok, then waited for the Commander to summon him. In the meantime he decided to check up on his team. Rick Biessman, who didn't participate in the last mission was angry. Munro suggested he go to the holodeck but Beissmann refused. Telsia was a calming influence she told him he couldn't have done anything, couldn't have known the Borg would beam in. Chell was frightened, speculating that Foster was already assimilated. The Chief was...well the Chief. The other members of the team had various feelings. He visited Oviedo in the armory, who was running simulations against the Borg using UNSC weapons. An hour later the call came.

"_Ensign Munro, report to Astrometrics at once."_ Tuvok said over the calm.

Munro walked out of the Armory and headed towards the nearest turbolift.

One stopped and opened. Munro stared at Commander Tuvok for a moment then moved in next to him. He looked down at the deck. "Look, Foster's alive, we can still save him." he said

"That is a possibility, you may well have the chance to find out." replied Tuvok

"What?" asked Munro

"I've read your report and concluded that you did everything you could. However with Lt. Foster missing, you are next in line for command of the Hazard Team. We are going to infiltrate a Borg Cube." said Tuvok

The turbolift arrived at Astrometrics and Munro followed Tuvok to the lab. Seven of Nine, Ensign Harry Kim and Captain Janeway were already there. The Captain nodded to both of the new arrivals.

"Ensign. I take it you know Seven and Ensign Kim." she said

Munro nodded.

"Seven and I were going over the Etherian's data and we've located a Borg Cube here in the dampening field with us. Our sensors are still offline, which is why we didn't detect it." said Kim

"The vessel appears to be heavily damaged." said Seven.

"Ensign Munro, your mission will be to get back the isodesium they stole and if at all possible rescue Lt. Foster. We're not even sure he's still alive." said Janeway

"Do we have a plan of action?" asked Munro

"I've selected a beam-in point within reasonable proximity to a primary sub processing matrix. Since we are unsure of the exact location of the isodesium, I should be able to interface with the matrix and determine it's location." Seven said

"Why not beam straight to matrix?" asked Munro

"We do not wish to alert the Borg. The beam-in point is in an area of low importance. There is also an assimilation chamber en route. It is possible that Lt. Foster is as yet unassimilated and being held there." she replied

"We're hoping they'll be too busy repairing the ship to worry about a few trespassers. Seven of Nine will be joining you as a mission specialist. Don't worry she's checked out on all UNSC weapons." said the Captain

"We've made some improvements to the UNSC weapons. They should be effective against the Borg." said Munro

"Good. Get the isodesium and rescue Foster if possible." said Janeway

"I will join you and your team in the transporter room." said Seven.

They all filed out and fifteen minutes later, Seven of Nine joined Munro, Murphy, the Chief, Chell, Jurot and Nelson in the transporter room. A moment later they beamed out.

* * *

A Starfleet Commando team materialized on the Borg ship. It was dark but not pitch black. The air was stale but breathable and it was hot too. The room they were in appeared heavily damaged. There were two Borg drones but they ignored the team. A green forcefield flickered in the doorway of the only way out. Munro nodded to his team. "All right, just stick to ourselves and they should ignore us. This isn't a simulation, so stay frosty." said Munro

"This distribution node controls the forcefield and local drones. If we wish to move on we should destroy it." said Seven

"Will that alert the Borg to our presence?" asked Munro

"No, all drones within a specified distance will shut down. Considering the extent of the damage the Borg will assume a power surge occurred. They will ignore us until they consider us a threat." Seven replied.

Munro nodded to the Chief. "All right Chief, take out the node, the rest of you stay alert just in case." he said

The Chief approached the node and appeared to inspect it for a moment before pulling his arm back, forming a fist and punching the node further into the wall. The distribution node crumpled with the impact and sparked. The two drones that were working immediatly shut down as did the green forcefield. The team moved out of the room and out onto a walkway. There were six regeneration alcoves along the edge. Beyond they could see the scope of the Cube. "Wow this place is huge!" said Nelson.

Then a drone activated and began walking towards the team. Nelson immediately aimed his rifle. "Sir! He's coming right at us should I take him down?" he asked

"No! lower your weapon. They will ignore us till they consider us a threat." said Munro

Nelson lowered his weapon but kept an eye out for more Borg. The team quickly moved into a corner with a passageway blocked by a blue forcefield.

"A High-Security force field, I will attempt to override it." said Seven as she began tapping the controls on a nearby terminal. "This terminal is malfunctioning...Crewmen Chang take out that generator." she said pointing to a generator mounted on the wall near the force field.

Chang quickly placed a small charge of C-7 foaming explosive. He inserted a detonator stick then motioned everyone to take cover. Then he blew the charge.

The forcefield dissipated but the team had other things to worry about. Several Borg beamed in and began firing some kind of forced plasma weapon. Luckily the team had specially designed armor similar enough to the Chief's MJOLNIR to protect them from the attacks. The team immediately responded to the assault by firing their own weapons. A total of twelve drones fell from dozens of projectile impacts. None adapted to the rifles. "Since when can the Borg shoot!" asked a startled Nelson.

"They obviously been isolated from the collective for some time they must have adapted." replied Seven.

After a short but fierce firefight, Seven of Nine crouched to examine a fallen drone. "It appears Borg shielding does not protect against kinetic damage. This may bode well for further research into defeating Borg shielding." said Seven.

The team moved through the passageway, the Chief broke the neck off a regenerating drone then moved on. Before they knew it they were in an assimilation chamber. Jurot spotted Lt. Foster laying on a bed. "Look! It's Foster! we have to save him." she said

Seven of Nine scanned the wall and the force field blocking them from getting to the Lt. "I detect no controls or power source for this force field. I would advise against taking unnecessary risks." she said

"Unnecessary?! Munro we can't just leave him behind like this." said Jurot

"The isodesium is of the highest priority. The Borg already consider us hostile and Lt. Foster is most likely beyond help." said Seven

Munro nodded in acknowledgement. "Chief, are you carrying a plasma sword?" he asked

The Chief nodded slowly not sure what Munro was getting at. Munro ran a hand along the wall next to the forcefield. "How thick is this wall Seven?" he asked

"Approximately 60 centimeters. Why do you ask?" she asked

The Chief smiled inside his helmet, fully realizing what Munro was getting at. _If we can't' get through the original door. We'll make our own._ He thought to himself. He pulled out the plasma sword which with the help of Lt. B'Elanna Torres had modified the grip for human use. A single blade of blue plasma flashed out and the Chief stabbed the wall. Jurot saw the edge of the plasma blade emerge through the other side of the wall through the forcefield. The Chief drew the blade away from the forcefield and then down. He pulled the sword out and cut down the other side of his first cut. Then he gave the wall a solid kick. The chunk of wall flew out and smashed a drone against the opposite wall. The Chief rushed in and with a quick couple of bursts, put down the two remaining drones. The team quickly followed and Munro approached Foster. "Munro to Voyager, I've found Foster. One to beam up." he said

"_Good work Ensign. We're beaming him directly to sickbay."_ replied Janeway.

Seven of Nine nodded in approval. "We should keep moving. We still need to find the isodesium." said Munro

The team moved ahead with the Chief on point. Two drones activated from regeneration alcoves to the right and directly ahead. The Chief put a burst of fire into each drone causing them to collapse. Two more drones appeared at the bottom of a ramp, Munro and Murphy took those down quickly. With a quick hand signal to the Chief and the team, Munro activated his camouflage and crept down. The next area had at least six drones. But there was also a distribution node as well as a blue force field. Still hidden within camouflage field he shot the node with a hand phaser. The drones deactivated as did the force field. He team rejoined him as he decloaked and put a phaser blast into each drone.

The team advanced through the now deactivated blue security field as there was no other way to progress. Once again the team was in a large area on a walkway, then drones beamed in and activated from regeneration alcoves. The drones closest to the team went down immediately, but six more drones beamed in on the opposite side of the chasm. The team took cover behind regeneration alcoves on the edge of the walkway and returned fire. Short controlled bursts from battle rifles and assault rifles quickly disposed of the remaining drones. But before the last one was shot, a plasma bolt impacted Crewmen Nelson's armor tearing through it and causing damage to his body. Jurot knelt next to him with a tricorder. "He's hurt bad Munro, he's got to beam out."

"Sorry sir." Nelson whispered.

"Get back to the ship Nelson. Munro to Voyager, we have one wounded, requesting beam-out."

"Acknowledged." replied Janeway

Nelson disappeared from the floor in the blue light of a transporter.

The team advanced through a green security field, then Seven of Nine signaled a halt. "Stay here and watch for more Borg. Ensign Munro and I will scout ahead." she said

The Chief nodded then pointed out position for the team to take. Munro and Seven advanced down a hall bringing down a pair of regenerating drones. Then they moved into a larger area with a blue security field and a console next to it. Munro and Seven took out four Borg which inhabited the area then Seven began working the console. "This should be the transfer point to the inner chambers. This forcefield will take some time to bypass." she said

"_Alex! The Borg are coming!"_ said Chang over the comm. Munro could hear gunfire down the corridor. Then the Chief's voice sounded over the comm. "Fall back, orderly retreat to Munro's position." he said

Munro could see the team now, moving up the corridor in an orderly fashion, Murphy and Chang provided cover while the Chief fell back a few feet, then provided cover for the two of them. The Chief flashed a hand signal to Chang who planted a few anti-personnel mines along the hallway as they retreated. Once they reached Munro's position they took cover near Seven of Nine. The Chief covered her while she worked by blocking plasma bolts with his armor. The shields took the hits easily and the Chief was able to return fire. Meanwhile, the hallway was exploding every few seconds as a drone stepped on a mine. Then the Borg beamed in more drones, but they were defeated quickly thanks to UNSC weapons. After a fierce firefight the blue security field deactivated and Seven called for the rest of the team. "The forcefield is down." she said

"Let's go!" yelled Munro as he brought down yet another Borg with his rifle. The ammo counter on his battle rifle read '3' so Munro racked the bolt which triggered a short replication sequence, this action drained power from his suit so he realized he would have to find a compatible power source soon.


	16. Information and Covenant

A/N: No I haven't played Halo 4. Don't have a 360...so I'm stuck watching the cutscenes and gameplay on youtube...

Chapter 16

Information and Covenant

The team came to a split in the corridor. Munro glanced at Seven and she shrugged. "Either direction will suffice." she said. In response Munro pointed to Murphy, Jurot and Chell to go one way while the Chief, Seven and himself would go the other. The team split and moved up the corridors quickly but cautiously. They met up at a green force field which blocked their path. While they were deciding what to do, more Borg drones activated and beamed in. Short controlled bursts from assault rifles and battle rifles took down several drones. One drone got too close to the Chief and was summarily kicked in the chest by the SPARTAN. The Borg armor crumpled from the impact and the drone flew backward into a wall. Chang spotted a crawlway and caught Munro's attention. "Team keep them occupied I'm going to see if I can bring this force field down." he said

The team members nodded and formed a firing line. Drone after drone fell to multiple bullet holes. Munro crawled through the Jefferies-tube-like crawlway until he got to a set of metal bars. He could see the distribution node on the wall, the bars were just wide enough for him to slip a hand phaser between them and fire at the node. It exploded and the force field went down. Munro saw his team backing up through the forcefield so he crawled back out, took down a pair of drones that beamed in right in front of him and quickly rejoined his team. Drones continued to beam in and the team continued to put them down with controlled bursts. The team made it to a circular lift and Munro pressed the button. The lift descended one level, the even more Borg beamed in. Two in front and four to either side. The lift was enclosed but there were openings not unlike windows in the lift. The Chief stood in front as his armor could take more punishment than the rest of the team.

The team used the windows to fire from cover taking down drone after drone. Then in a moment of reprieve, Munro motioned for the team to move out quickly. The Chief took point and crossed a short 'bridge' to the other side, then followed the walkway around to another lift. Seven of Nine pointed at the level below. "That is the primary sub processing matrix." she said

Munro nodded and hit the button on another lift and it descended to the matrix's level. When the team stepped out at least a dozen drones beamed in. Two directly in front of them, four to each side, then six more on the other side. The two in front went down immediately, then Chang, Chell and Jurot went left while the Chief, Munro and Seven went right. The team caught the remaining Borg in a crossfire and quickly eliminated them.

With the area clear Seven of Nine approached the primary sub-processing matrix. She held her hand up and inserted her assimilation tubules. Munro looked alarmed "Whoa, what are you doing?" he asked

"I should be able to download useful information from the memory core...strange...memory core is...fragmented...certain data is...shielded...this is not typical of the Borg all information is shared." she said

"These Borg are anything but typical." said Jurot.

"Intriguing." Seven whispered to herself.

"What?" asked Munro

"I found more information about the Forge. This cube engaged a probe similar to the one Voyager encountered. The probes are sent by the Forge. Those vessels with sufficient technology to destroy the probes are brought here by the resulting explosions. Once here, this cube was invaded by a vessel sent from the Forge. The Scavengers call them 'Harvesters'. They forcibly disassemble the trapped ships and take the parts and crew back to the Forge. They abducted hundreds of drones, and nearly one quarter of the ship before they were driven off. The Harvesters resistance quotient is extremely high." Reported Seven

"A species even the Borg are afraid of?" asked Jurot.

"We don't plan on sticking around long enough to make their acquaintance. Seven, any information on the isodesium?" asked Munro

"Just a moment…querying…yes three levels below…Quaternary Environmental Control Chamber nine-alpha. There is more but I cannot access it memory is fragmented." Replied Seven

"Alright, let's go...Seven?" said Munro

Seven of Nine hesitated then disengaged from the console. "I...I am sorry I was...distracted." she said

The team moved down a short corridor to another room blocked by a green security field. Munro saw a distribution node behind a fence-like obstruction. He pulled a fragmentation grenade out and tossed it. It bounced off the wall and landed just under the node. The grenade went off, destroying the node, deactivating the drones in the room as well as the green security field. A short firefight with a quartet of drones left the team on a open lift descending deeper into the cube...

* * *

The lift stopped on the level below. There appeared to be some kind of gas or liquid in the middle but the team could moved around via a narrow ledge. Munro spotted an energy terminal and recharged his armor's ammunition replicator. One direction was blocked by fallen debris so the team had to go the long way. Borg drones began to beam in but they went down fairly quickly. The team quickly moved into the next area which seemed to be filled with Borg but they managed to clear it. Another lift brought them down a level and they cleared that area too. Yet a third lift took them down past a grate with a plasma conduit next to it. The lift stopped on the level below and a half-dozen Borg beamed in directly in front of them...and were summarily cut down. The team moved up a hallway then found their path blocked by a green security field. "Chief, hold this position, I think I know where the distribution node is." Munro said

The Chief nodded and Munro moved back to the lift they had come down. He pulled out a phaser and remembering that plasma conduits were explosive fired on the conduit. It exploded, taking out the grating blocking the crawlway. Munro hit the lift's button and began to rise. As it reached the crawlway he jumped in and combat-crawled to the distribution node and destroyed it with a phaser blast. Then he crawled back out and dropped to the floor below and rejoined his team. They moved into a wide area with some kind of green diamond hanging from the ceiling. "What is that?" asked Munro

"The Vinculum. It is the hub through which all Borg thoughts are processed and organized...It creates order out of chaos." replied Seven.

By this time they were directly beneath the vinculum when the Borg in the room activated with several more beaming in. A few went down before a force field activated. Seven of Nine straightened and turned to Ensign Munro.

_We are the Borg._ she said, her voice now reminiscent of the collective.

"She's turned on us!" yelled Jurot who brought her weapon up and aimed at Seven.

"Jurot no! The vinculum must be controlling her." said Munro

_Ensign Alexander Munro of the Starship Voyager. You are the leader of your unit._ said Seven

"Yes...I am..." he replied

_We wish to negotiate._

"Negotiate!?" Munro asked, stunned, the Borg were not known to negotiate.

_You and your team will be allowed to leave this vessel with the isodesium you are attempting to retrieve._

"Sounds good. What do you want from us?" he asked cautiously.

_We have assimilated information from this unit detailing your previous encounters with Species 8472._

"Species...8472!"

_This vessel was engaged in combat with Species 8472, who had infiltrated our vessel. The Forge probe attacked us during this conflict. Upon destruction of the probe we were transported here as were several of Species 8472._

"I don't like where this is heading..." said Jurot.

_Despite our adaptations, Species 8472 has remained resistant. We assimilated your Lt. Foster to gain information that may be of use in protecting the cube from them. However, they stole the isodesium and have been using it as an energy source. They are reproducing rapidly. We cannot contain them._

"I see...and you want us to stop them for you?"

_This unit has memory of specialized nanoprobes developed to eliminate Species 8472. You will use these to eradicate the infestation._

"They must be crazy to think we would help them." said Jurot

"Why shouldn't we just leave you here to kill each other off?" asked Munro

_You have only two options, accept or be assimilated._

"Well I guess when you put it that way...alright we'll do it." Munro said

The forcefield disappeared and a Federation hypospray appeared next to every member of the team. Munro picked his up. "What's this?" he asked

_These nanoprobes have been modified to eliminate Species 8472, your projectile weapons, while primitive should prove effective if they are infused with these nanoprobes._

The force field disappeared and Borg beamed away. _You will proceed through this route to Quaternary Environmental Control Chamber Nine-Alpha, where you will find Species 8472's lair. Their resistance quotient is extremely high._

Seven shook her head and touched it with her hand. "Seven are you-"

"The vinculum has released me." she said simply.

Jurot was decidedly unhappy about the arrangement. "You can't trust the Borg. They've double-crossed us before." she said

"That may be so, but the isodesium is beyond the area of infestation. We would have had to go through it anyway." replied Seven.

The team reached a blue forcefield and Seven began working a nearby console. While she worked the console the team injected their weapons with the nanoprobes. They nanoprobes immediately infused into the projectiles and armed themselves. A few minutes later, the blue field went down and the team advanced toward the infestation...


	17. InfestationR & R

A/N: For this chapter I will refer to Species 8472 by their Star Trek Online name 'Undine' to make my sentences less...awkward. Wow 2300 words, one of my longest chapters...the funny thing is I'm trying to put in more detail but I'm barely hitting a thousand to fifteen hundred words a chapter.

Chapter 17

Infestation and R & R

The blue force field went down, then reactivated behind the team as they moved into Species 8272's lair. A group of them were ahead and were quickly disposed of by quick bursts of nanoprobe infused projectiles. Suddenly the wall to the right burst open and more Undine poured out. These were also quickly dealt with. Munro motioned the team to move on. The Starfleet team's weapons indeed proved effective against Species 8472 for which Munro was grateful.

As the team moved through the Undine infested area, they could see the remnants of previous battles and pitched firefights. Many Borg were cut in half, their insides still moving. They could see Undine blood splattered on the walls throughout the section. After taking down several dozen Undine the team activated a lift and moved through the last section taking down the last of the Undine. Then they reached the isodesium. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief...except the Chief. He expected the Borg to renege on the deal.

His suspicions were proven as the Borg beamed in around the team.

_We are the Borg. You will be assimilated._

"Wait a minute! We negotiated...We had a deal!" said Munro

_Irrelevant. You will be assimilated._

The Borg began to approach the team preparing to assimilate them. But as they got closer, the Chief nodded to Munro who nodded back in return. The Chief chinned a control on his heads-up-display...

* * *

Back in the chamber with the Vinculum, a small package began to beep softly. The beeping increased until it was a solid tone.

Then it exploded.

A satchel of C7 foaming explosive blew up not only the platform the team had stood on but the Vinculum as well.

* * *

Back in the isodesium chamber the Borg sparked, then regained control of themselves. But in the few seconds it took them to do this, the team put all six drones down. Five more drones beamed in and they were defeated quickly as well. Munro approached the isodesium and satisfied that the samples were intact called Voyager on the comm. "Munro to Voyager, we have the isodesium and are ready for transport."

_"Acknowledged, initiating transport."_ Voyager replied

"Beam myself and the isodesium directly to engineering." Seven of Nine said just before the transporter beamed them away.

As the team left the cube, internal explosions rocked the vessel, fire blossomed along the outer surfaces, the cube went dark. The eerie green light faded from the cube.

* * *

On Voyager, in engineering, Seven of Nine and the isodesium appeared. B'Elanna quickly got her staff organized and with Seven's assistance, main power started to come back online.

In the transporter room, Munro, Murphy, Chang, Chell, Jurot and the Chief appeared on the pad. Commander Tuvok stood by the door, then approached Munro as he rematerialized.

"Seven of Nine beamed directly to engineering with the isodesium. If Lt. Torres is correct, Voyager should have power restored within a day or two. You are all off-duty until further notice. Mr. Munro, I must commend you and your team on the rescue of Lt. Foster. He is in sickbay and is likely to recover. You all have some holodeck time. I suggest you use it." he said

Munro nodded then watched as his team left the transporter room and went to the locker room. The Chief stepped into a specially made alcove for his armor and was literally _beamed _out of his armor while keeping it intact. The armor had an emergency transporter that would allow the Chief to beam into his armor in the event of an emergency. The Chief wore a simple day uniform under his armor.

Munro went to the armory to see about a new weapon that Oviedo had hinted about just before the Borg mission. "Hey Munro, we've used the UNSC's rocket launcher as a template for a heavy weapon. We're using micro photon torpedoes in the casings and the rocket itself is heat-seeking. Which gives it anti-air capability. I wouldn't recommend using it in the corridors though, it tends to rip holes in the bulkheads."

Munro smiled at that. "I'm sure it will come in handy." he replied. Just then, Ensign Murphy walked into the armory and grabbed a sniper rifle from one of the racks. "Hey Munro, just before we left for the Borg mission, the Chief told me about another training mode he came up with. He called it 'Starfleet Ops.' It's a scenario-based training exercise. His goal as he told me was to prepare us for every possible situation or mission we might encounter." she asked.

"Sounds like fun." He replied, grabbing an assault rifle from the same rack.

Murphy and Munro spent a few minutes playing through various scenarios, from counter-boarding ops and all out assaults to stealth missions. Two hours later they met in the mess hall. Murphy was already there as Munro walked in behind her. Neelix, the ship's cook/morale officer/ambassador, was tending bar, and generally seeing to the needs of the crew. "Well hello Mrs. Murphy! What can I get for you today?" he asked

"Hmmmm, how about some Tarkalian Wine?"

"An excellent choice." said Neelix

"Hi Munro..." she said as she noticed him walked up next to her.

"Hi..."

"Looks like we're pretty much out of the woods now. We should be out of here pretty quickly."

"Something tells me our time here has just begun..." Munro replied

Neelix held up the bottle of Wine and Murphy and Munro went to a table nearby. On the way, Chakotay and Paris were at another table. "Hey Munro, good work on the Borg ship, we all owe you one." Paris said

Chakotay added his sentiment as well. "Good work Ensign, your team really pulled through."

Munro nodded in thanks then sat with Telsia. "You know a couple of times there, I really thought you might not make it. I'm glad you did."

"Me too." he replied, then overheard the conversation between Neelix, Paris and Chakotay.

* * *

"...No it's great...what is it?" said Paris

"Pie."

"What _kind _of pie?" asked Paris forcefully

"Lorinax grubroach pie...have a nice meal?" Neelix said, then quickly moved on.

"Ugh."

"A little more adventurous than you intended Tom?" asked Chakotay with a barely restrained smile.

"A little?"

* * *

Munro's ears turned back to Telsia when she started speaking again. "So...I was wondering-"

Just then Neelix happened by. "So! How's the Tarkalian Wine? I was told 2245 was an excellent year." he said

"Oh yes it's good. Thanks." she replied hastily

"Ah, Ensign! I've heard you've become quite the hero...it must have been fascinating, the Etherians, those strange scavengers and those pesky Borg. If you ask me, you're in line for a promotion." Neelix said

Munro raised an eyebrow in a typically Vulcan fashion when Neelix mentioned the Borg as 'pesky', but paid the comment no mind.

"Well...I'm going to go back to my quarter and get some sleep. See you later Alex." Telsia said, then got up and moved toward the door. The Chief came in as she reached the door. She nodded to him in passing.

But before she passed completely out of the mess hall, she heard a crewmen start to speak up.

"Hey...what is that?" he asked, pointing out the large windows.

"What? I don't see anything." said another crewmember.

A crowd quickly formed at the window, all eyes were on the debris. Even the Chief was interested. Then his genetically and mechanically enhanced vision adjusted and he spotted the dot headed for the ship.

"Out there...in the debris...see it?" asked the first crewmen.

Quickly the dot turned into a silhouette...of a ship. "That...thing's heading right for us!" said Paris.

Then Chakotay saw it. "Whatever it is...it doesn't look friendly." he said

"Harvesters..." Munro mused.

Then the call came over the comm. _All senior personnel report to the conference room._ Cortana said

"I suggest we all report to our stations and await orders." said the Chief

The Chief joined, Munro, Chakotay and Paris in the turbolift to the bridge...

* * *

The Chief, Munro, Chakotay and Paris joined Captain Janeway, B'Elanna, Kim and Seven of Nine in the conference room.

"Does anyone have any idea what this thing is?" asked Janeway

"I believe I do Captain. The most logical presumption is that the Forge has sent a Harvester to...disassemble Voyager." said Seven

The Captain sighed. "I was afraid that's what you were going to say..."

"Combining the records Seven retrieved from the Borg ship with my own sensor scans, I would concur with Seven's appraisal." said Tuvok.

"Wait a second...didn't one of those ships tear up a Borg Cube?" asked Paris

"Yes, the Harvesters appear to attach themselves to stranded ships and use massive claws to literally tear the ship apart. The Harvester aliens meanwhile invade the ship, and plunder equipment and crew...the effect is utterly devastating." Tuvok replied

"Great! Thanks for the pep talk!" said Paris sarcastically

The Captain turned to B'Elanna. "B'Elanna, how soon will we get the warp drive and defense systems back online?"

"Not soon enough Captain. The isodesium is helping, but it's still going to take several more hours." B'Elanna replied

"I"m open to ideas...anyone?" asked Janeway

Cortana, who was attending the meeting as well spoke up. "Captain, I think I have an idea." she said

Her hologram disappeared and was replaced by a cylinder-shaped vessel. "This appears to be a gunship of some sort with a large cannon. I found it after a search of the records we got from the Etherians. It's adrift, with one small hull fracture here." she said, highlighting a small portion of the ship's hull in red. "No lifesigns have been detected but that doesn't mean there aren't any..." she said

Seven of Nine had examined the vessel as well before the meeting. "Yes, the technology is consistent with that of Species 1567. They were engaged in a long-range war in which they sent out giant automated gunships called 'Dreadnoughts' to destroy enemy outposts. They possessed impressive firepower."

"Sounds like a giant cannon on autopilot." said Paris

"Essentially. Yes." replied Seven

"Our own scans of the vessel reveal a large cannon not unlike the Magnetic Accelerator Cannons common on UNSC vessels. The exception being the weapon uses an energy round instead of a solid projectile." Cortana said

"If we can board it...aim it at the Harvester..." Chakotay started.

"We can blow the Harvester away before it reaches Voyager." Ensign Kim finished.

"That's assuming we could operate it. The ship does have power, but its outer hull is composed of a mineral which is blocking scans of the internal structure, so we have no idea of the condition of the weapon." said Cortana.

"Well...I don't see any better option, Tuvok, you the Chief and Munro put together a plan. But fast, we don't have much time. B'Elanna see what you can do to get our defenses up faster."

"I'll do my best Captain." replied B'Elanna

"Dismissed."

* * *

After a quick discussion the Hazard team was assembled in the briefing room. Then Tuvok began to explain the mission and it's objectives.

"The Dreadnought appears to be essentially a giant automated weapon of mass destruction. There are only a few identifiable areas of the ship. This front area seems to be the control section. There is a barrel section seven hundred meters long." said Tuvok

Needless to say the team members were astonished. "Seven Hundred Meters?!" exclaimed Telsia while another crewmen whistled in awe.

"The rear section seems to contain the ammunition, power and propulsion systems. Our objective will be to reach the control section and fire the weapon at the Harvester ship." Tuvok finished

"How do we know this thing still works?" asked Telsia

Munro, the Chief and Tuvok looked at each other. "We do not. We have detected an active power source and the vessel does not seem to be significantly damaged. In fact we believe the weapon has never been fired. However as our sensors can barely penetrate the ship's hull, it is difficult to ascertain the weapon's condition." said Tuvok

"How do we have before the Harvesters get here?" asked Chell.

"Approximately three hours and forty-seven minutes." Tuvok stated.

"Not much time..." said Telsia

Tuvok nodded slightly to Munro signalling him to take the lead on the briefing. "We might have caught a break on this one though." Munro said. He tapped a panel and the image on the screen zoomed in on one particular portion of the alien ship's hull. "As you can see, we found a tear in the hull."

"Whatever did that could-" another crewmen started.

"We should be able to transport directly into the ship through this breach, saving us the time of having to shuttle over. From here, it's only a short stroll to the control center here." Munro continued. At the same time, the screen projected a path in white from the breach to the control area. "Myself, Chang, Telsia, Tuvok and Csatlos will beam in and escort the Chief to the control room, where Cortana should be able to fire the weapon."

"Sounds like pretty heavy escort for a derelict ship." said Csatlos.

"Although I'm sure the Chief could probably make the trip by himself, we're not taking any chances with this one. If all goes well, once we get to the control room, Cortana should be able to fire the weapon and there will still be a Voyager to come back to. Any questions?"

Munro looked across the team but saw no raised hands or questions. "Good, gear up and report to the transporter room. Dismissed..."

The team exited the briefing room and collected their gear. Oviedo saw Munro in the armory and spoke up. "Hey Munro, better make it quick. That Harvester ship doesn't look very friendly."

A few minutes later the team assembled and was transported to the dreadnought...


	18. Dreadnought

A/N: It's been awhile since I've updated this story. I'm gonna try and concentrate on it for the next few weeks and finish it off so I can concentrate more on Halo: Defection. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 18 Dreadnought

The away team materialized onto the alien dreadnought's hanger bay. Telsia jumped a little but went higher than she expected "Whoa...gravity is a little lite here. Should have brought grav boots."

"Power to this area must be partially out." said Chell.

"What are those?" asked Chang looking at a vehicle of some kind.

"Looks like fighters." said the Chief

"Fighters? I thought this ship didn't have a crew?" said Chell

"Maybe they're automated." said Telsia

"We do not have time for idle speculation, we should proceed." said Tuvok.

The team moved forward along the walkway. Chell approached a control console and attempted to open the large door ahead. "The door won't open...like I thought power is out."

"It is likely we would be blown out through the hull breach should we open the door just yet. We must restore the environmental integrity of the hangar bay before we continue." said Tuvok

The Chief approached the console and Cortana inserted herself into the system. "Whoa...there are lots of security AIs on the ship but they are unusual. Standby..." Cortana said

A moment later a forcefield appeared over the breach and a ventilation system kicked in. "Environmental settings are normalizing throughout the ship. Also I've figured out what all these AI are for. Their internal defenses consist of maintenance bots with preprogrammed aggression toward any intruder. I can't deactivate them but I can clear your path to the bridge. Cmdr. Tuvok, you'll be interested to hear that there is a group of scavengers outside the bridge door. It's looks like they can't get in." said Cortana.

"Can you aim and fire the weapon from here?" asked Tuvok.

"No, the weapon system is hardwired to the bridge you'll have to get me to a console on the bridge." Cortana replied

"Very well. Mr. Munro, lead the way." said Tuvok

With a nod Munro moved forward into the next area, quickly dodging falling debris. The team turned right at a T-junction. Ahead was an elevator of some kind. Behind them the team heard some kind of squeaking sound. Chell turned and yelled "Harvester!" as two small creatures crawled out of the wall behind them. The team opened fire with phaser rifles and the creatures instantly went down. Ensign Csatlos approached the creatures cautiously. "That's a Harvester?" he asked

"I don't know...it looked bigger before we killed it..." replied Chell.

"Let us hope Mr. Chell that you do not mistake one of _us_ for a Harvester. Please unlock the elevator so we may continue." said Tuvok

The Chief just shook his head...

"Yes sir."

Chell moved forward to a control panel. After a few minutes of work with his tricorder it opened. The team moved into the elevator and Munro hit a panel on the back wall. The elevator began moving up. "Cortana what can you tell us about the area ahead?" asked Munro

"The next level appears to be a medical facility of some kind. But the main hall is blocked by debris. Even the Chief won't be able to move it. There is some sort of cryo-type chamber to the right and a ventilation shaft. You might be able to use it to get around the debris. I've marked the location with a nav point. Also be advised there are marked crates that could explode if hit by energy weapon fire." she replied

"Acknowledged." said Munro

The lift stopped and opened.

Just as Cortana had said there was debris blocking the hallway. Chang pulled out a tricorder and scanned the debris. This material is too tough for me to blast it clear. It might even cause another section of the ceiling to collapse." he said

Chell moved to the side to get a better look at the debris. As he did so the door to the left creaked partially open. Chell whirled around, weapon raised. But there was nothing there. The door was trying to open all the way but could not. Something was jamming it from the other side.

On the right side of the hallway, Munro found the cryo-chamber Cortana mentioned. He found the ventilation shaft but it was blocked by two explosive crates stacked on top of each other. He warned everyone to stay back and shot the lowest one. They both exploded but otherwise left the rest of the crates and the room unharmed. Tuvok nodded to Munro and Telsia who ducked into the vent and crawled down the shaft. Two more of the parasite creatures were in the shaft and were killed when they encountered the two Starfleet officers. Munro and Telsia came out on the other side of the debris and entered the room across the hall.

"Looks like a sickbay to me." said Telsia.

"Look over there. A chair is jamming the door." said Munro

They tried to move the chair but it was too heavy for them. Munro looked around...and spotted the surgical laser pointed to the side. He went to the control panels and used them to move the laser to the chair blocking the door. He activated the laser and it vaporized the chair. With the chair gone the team could move on. "Sound, deductive reasoning Ensign...good work." said Tuvok

Munro nodded and followed the team to the next lift. They boarded the lift and it took them to the bridge deck. "There are scavengers on this deck. I recommend you switch to assault rifles to get past them." said Cortana

The team nodded and they brought out assault rifles a shotgun and a couple battle rifles. They crept up on the large room just before the bridge.

It was filled with scavengers.

The Chief flashed a hand signal to the team, then another hand signaled Telsia and Munro to move up and throw flashbangs at the scavengers. The grenades did their job and blinded most of the scavengers as the team moved in quickly.

The fight was over in fifteen seconds.

"What were Scavengers doing here?" asked Chang.

Chell was scanning the door. "It looks like they were trying to get into the control room. Couldn't get this door open though." he said

"See that you fare better, Mr. Chell." said Tuvok

"What a disaster area." said Telsia, marveling at the damage.

"Maybe the crew made a last stand against the Harvesters here." said Chang

"Let us hope the control room is in better condition." said Tuvok

"Looks like they put up a fight." said Telsia

"Not that it did them any good..." replied Chang

The door to the control room was open before they knew it.

"That was fast." said Telsia

"I wouldn't be much of a technician if I couldn't open a door..." replied Chell.

The team moved in and secured the bridge. Not surprisingly the bridge was empty, not only of life but of any indication that the ship was boarded.

Tuvok, the Chief and Chell moved to a set of consoles on the back wall. Cortana again downloaded herself into the ship's system. Without difficulty she was able to acquire a target lock on the Harvester ship approaching Voyager. But there was a problem.

"Chief, We've got some problems." she said as she appeared in two-dimensions on the large screen on the front wall of the bridge. "I can aim the weapon and fire it from here, however the loading mechanism is malfunctioning. We'll have to load the charge manually." she displayed a schematic of the ship on a screen next to her. "A small team will have to get to the barrel and ride the maintenance tram to the end. The plasma-focusing router, here is misaligned, cutting off power to the firing mechanism. You will have to adjust it. After that's done, go to the firing chamber, here. Load the energy round for the weapon into the chamber. I can then fire the weapon from here. I've already disabled the locks and security systems for the doors in the rest of the ship. You should not have a difficult time." Cortana said

Tuvok nodded to Munro who spoke. "Alright, Chief, Chang, Csatlos, you're with me. Telsia, you and Chell stay here." he said

Chell was relieved to say the least. "I thought he was going to pick me."

"Hey don't worry the ship's deserted. It should be no problem." replied Csatlos.

The four-man team piled into a small elevator and Munro pressed the control panel on the inside. Then the lift descended deeper into the dreadnought...


	19. Encounters and Skirmishes

Chapter 19 Encounters and Skirmishes

The lift stopped and the four-man team stepped off. As they did, the control panel behind them burst into sparks. They turned, thinking they were under attack but there was only the sparking console.

"Well we won't be going back this way." said Csatlos.

"Doesn't matter. As soon as we're done, we are beaming out of here." said Munro

The team moved down a corridor with weapons at the ready. They passed a sign that appeared to have alien script written on it. But the translators couldn't make sense of it. Csatlos took point and went around the corner. He stopped and looked at something on the wall. It looked like a red...eye.

"What's this?" he asked

Munro quickly caught up. "Don't touch anything. It might be part of the auto-defense system Cortana mentioned."

Csatlos backed off some and was getting ready to continue down the corridor, when the 'eye' began to quiver. The 'eye' turned out to be an automated drone of some kind. It took one look at Csatlos and the rest of the team then moved down the corridor. The team followed it suspiciously. The smaller drone then attached to the top of a larger robot. It had four legs and what looked like tools of some kind underneath, including something that looked like a weapon...

The robot quivered then stood on its four legs and began to approach the team. It opened fire with a single powerful laser bolt. The Chief stepped in front of Munro and took the bolt, which drained a quarter of his shield power. The team immediately returned fire with no less than ten separate phaser bolts slamming into the armor of the robot. It ceased fire, then sagged and fell to the ground. Then exploded with the approximate force of a grenade.

Before the team could catch their breath however two more robots came around the corner. They were immediately met with phaser fire and destroyed quickly. Then Cmdr Tuvok came over the comm. _"What's happening down there? I read a power surge a moment ago."_ he asked

"This ship isn't quite as dead as we thought sir. Looks like Cortana was right, there is an internal defense system powered by independant AIs." said the Chief

"We'll just have to be careful." said Munro

"Really careful. Look at your armor Chief." said Chang.

On the Chief's armor that had withstood countless projectile and energy weapon attacks was a darkened spot on the chest piece. It was only then that the Chief had noticed that his suit had injected his chest with biofoam to heal the probably second-degree burns on his chest. "I guess I will be careful." he said

"It looks like that laser can't fire very fast but when it does it hits hard. We should be able to avoid most of their shots if we pay attention." said Csatlos.

The Chief nodded to Munro who approached a hatch. It opened to reveal a lift that went down at an angle. The team stepped onto the lift and Munro hit the control panel. The lift went down what appeared to be a single level. The doors in front of them opened to reveal a maintenance area of some-kind. However on the wall was a turret. It turned as soon as the doors opened and opened fire on the team. They quickly sought cover and returned fire. A couple of phaser shots destroyed the turret. The team moved out onto a wide walkway That was more grating than deck plating. There were two of the robots ahead. One was directly ahead past a cross-corridor. Another was closer and to the right. Munro snipped the far robot while his comrades took down the closer one with a few well-placed phaser shots. The team moved up and took down another robot just around the corner of the cross-corridor to the left. They also took out a turret that was mounted to the wall below them. Munro looked down again. There was a second level of grating. The way to the right was blocked by an upraised section of the floor. Munro could see a control panel on the lower level. He lead the team down the corridor and to the left. They destroyed a turret and Munro stepped onto a small one-man lift. He motioned for them to hold their position.

The lift lowered to the next level and Munro moved back the way he came. There were gaps in the grating but nothing he couldn't jump over. He turned to the left and hit the panel. The section of grating above him slammed into place allowing the team to progress. Went back the way he came and rejoined the team. Together they moved to the door and discovered it was another lift. The lift went back up a level but there were three robots waiting for them which opened fire immediately. The team quickly took cover behind the walls and returned fire. Moments later the last robot self-destructed. The team moved across the room and found another lift.

* * *

The lift stopped and opened its doors, revealing a single robot that went down quick. The team moved up the corridor and found two more robots and destroyed them as well. Then to the left, a door opened. The team entered and found four of the robots, one in each corner. The team concentrated and hit each robot as hard and as fast as possible. While the team did take some hits, their armor took the brunt of the attack and saved all their lives.

"Where are we?" asked Csatlos.

"I don't know." said Chang.

"That looks like a pump or something." said Munro who took out his tricorder and scanned it.

"I stand corrected. It's the mainframe for the internal defences." he said

"If we destroy this do you think the robots will deactivate?" asked Chang

"If it doesn't, it'll probably impede their ability to coordinate with each other." said the Chief

Munro nodded to Chang who planted a spacial charge on the mainframe. The team retreated outside the room and detonated the charge. "That should do it." said Chang. "If we run into any more of them they should be a little less of a threat."

Munro nodded and the team moved forward through another door directly ahead. Beyond it was a single robot. The robot turned toward them and seemed to analyze them. They observed it for a moment then destroyed it. "It definitely did something to them. Their reaction time must go up when the mainframe is destroyed. They might revert back to normal programming for a maintenance bot." said Chang.

Munro nodded and hit a button at the far end of the corridor. The door opened to reveal a much larger area with a large plasma conduit running vertically through the room. As they moved into the room they heard a loud creak and then the sound of a lift coming up. On the lift was a robot.

But not the small robots they had previously encountered.

This one was easily three times as tall as a human, even the Chief was dwarfed by it. There were two massive claws connected to arms which were in turn connected to a large body. It was obviously a heavy combat model.

It took the team a good two minutes of phaser fire to put the thing down. All the while they were running, jumping and dodging the robots massive claws. Once it went down, it exploded just like the others.

"What was that thing?" asked Csatlos.

"Must have been some kind of heavy combat drone." replied Chang

The Chief walked up to another door but it wouldn't open.

"Looks like the only way to move on is down this lift to where the robot came from." said Chang

Munro sighed _another elevator..._

* * *

The elevator took them to what appeared to be a cargo bay of some kind. They were full of the marked explosive crates Cortana mentioned. Among the cargo containers were two small robots which were destroyed. But there was another type of robot in the area as well. It flew around firing rockets and lasers at the team. But a few accurate shots was all it took to put it down.

Just before the door on the left side of the cargo bay opened, Munro picked something up. He looked it over and held it for the other members of the team to see.

"Looks like some kind of welding tool, I'll bet it makes a decent weapon too." Munro said

On a hunch he pointed the tool at an empty space on the wall. He pulled the trigger and the tool jerked in his arms. A solid beam of antiprotons poured out impacting the wall and slicing into it. The team moved down the large hall and found another door to the right. Munro quickly put down a pair of robots with a pair of four-second bursts from his new weapon. "I like this thing..." he said

The large door opened and another cargo bay was beyond. However this one had two of the large combat robots which took a full fifteen seconds each to put down. The team took out a smaller robot and started in on the three turrets in the room. Munro spotted a panel and punched it. A vehicle with a crane moved forward and crashed into a pillar which collapsed. The turrets were quickly eliminated and the team could move on.

They moved up the ramp Munro had created and to the right. They encountered two more small robots and quickly disposed of them. The team then stepped onto another catwalk with a single robot approaching them as well as a pair of the flying support drones. All three bots were quickly taken out. They followed the catwalk to another door that opened to reveal a pair of robots waiting for them. Munro quickly put them down before the team could be hurt. They moved forward to another lift at the end of the room. Tuvok, who had been monitoring their progress came over the comm.

"Well done Mr. Munro, you are approaching the barrel. The tram should be nearby. Take it down to the plasma focusing chamber, you must hurry." he said

The lift moved up a short distance and directly ahead of the team was a narrow bridge that spanned the barrel. The team quickly moved across and boarded the maintenance tram. The tram separated from the deck and shot down the barrel...


End file.
